Figures 
of  Earth 


BOOKS  by  MR.  CABELL 

Biography: 

BEYOND  LIFE 
FIGURES  OF  EARTH 
DOMNEI 
CHIVALRY 

JURGEN 

THE  LINE  OF  LOVE 

GALLANTRY 

THE  CERTAIN  HOUR 

THE  CORDS  OF  VANITY 

FROM  THE  HIDDEN  WAY 

THE  RIVET  IN  GRANDFATHER'S  NECK 

THE  EAGLE'S  SHADOW 

THE  CREAM  OF  THE  JEST 

Genealogy: 

BRANCH  OF  ABINGDON 

BRANCHIANA 

THE  MAJORS  AND  THEIR  MARRIAGES 


A  Comedy  of  Appearances 

By 
JAMES  BRANCH  CABELL 


"Cascun  se  mir  el  jove  Manuel, 
Quera  del  mon  lo  plus  valens  dels  pros/ 


NEW  YORK 
ROBERT  M.  McBRIDE  &  CO. 

1921 


Copyright,       1921 ,       by 
JAMES      BRANCH      CABELL 


Copyright,  1919,   1920,  by  The  Century  Company. 
Copyright,  1920,  by  McClure's  Magazine,  Inc. 
Copyright,  1920,  by  The  Ridgway  Company. 


Second  Printing,  February,  1921 
Third  Printing  April,  1921 


Printed       in        the 
United     States     of     America 


Published,   February,  1921 


TO  SIX  MOST  GALLANT  CHAMPIONS  IS  DEDICATED 
THIS  HISTORY  OF  A  CHAMPION  I  LESS  TO  REPAY 
THAN  TO  ACKNOWLEDGE  LARGE  DEBTS  TO  EACH 
OF  THEM,  COLLECTIVELY  AT  OUTSET,  AS  THERE- 
AFTER SERIATIM. 


3SC& 


Contents 


A  FOREWORD  ...........  xi 

PART  ONE 
THE  BOOK  OF  CREDIT 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    How  MANUEL  LEFT  THE  MIRE  .      .  3 

II     NIAFER       ........  ii 

III  ASCENT  OF  VRAIDEX  .....  18 

IV  IN  THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE   ...  24 
V    THE  ETERNAL  AMBUSCADE  ...  42 

VI    ECONOMICS  OF  MATH     ....  50 

VII    THE  CROWN  OF  WISDOM      ...  55 

VIII    THE  HALO  OF  HOLINESS      ...  63 

IX     THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  ....  72 

PART  TWO 

THE  BOOK  OF  SPENDING 

X    ALIANORA  ........  87 

XI     MAGIC  OF  THE  APSARASAS    ...  95 

XII    ICE  AND  IRON  .......  104 

XIII  WHAT  HELMAS  DIRECTED    .      .      .  114 

XIV  THEY  DUEL  ON  MORVEN      .     .      .  120 
XV    BANDAGES  FOR  THE  VICTOR  .      .      .  134 

PART  THREE 

THE  BOOK  OF  CAST  ACCOUNTS 

XVI    FREYDIS      ........  143 

XVII    MAGIC  OF  THE  IMAGE  MAKERS  .     .  151 


viii 

CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

PAGE 

XVIII 

MANUEL  CHOOSES      .     .     . 

.     .     161 

XIX 

THE  HEAD  OF  MISERY    . 

.     .     167 

XX 

THE  MONTH  OF  YEARS  . 

.     •     173 

XXI 

TOUCHING  REPAYMENT  .  ^  . 

.     .     181 

XXII 

RETURN  OF  NIAFER    . 

.     .     190 

XXIII 

MANUEL  GETS  His  DESIRE  . 

.     .     196 

XXIV 

THREE  WOMEN 

204 

PART  FOUR 
THE  BOOK  OF  SURCHARGE 

XXV    AFFAIRS  IN  POICTESME   ....  213 

XXVI     DEALS  WITH  THE  STORK      .      .      .  224 

XXVII    THEY  COME  TO  SARGYLL      .     .     .  234 

XXVIII    How  MELICENT  WAS  WELCOMED   .  241 

XXIX     SESPHRA  OF  THE  DREAMS     .      .      .  249 

XXX     FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS     ....  259 

XXXI     STATECRAFT 270 

XXXII     THE  REDEMPTION  OF  POICTESME     .  276 

PART  FIVE 
THE  BOOK  OF  SETTLEMENT 

XXXIII  Now  MANUEL  PROSPERS      .     .     .  289 

XXXIV  FAREWELL  TO  ALIANORA      .     .     .  298 
XXXV    THE  TROUBLING  WINDOW  ...  308 

XXXVI    EXCURSIONS  FROM  CONTENT      .     .  317 

XXXVII    OPINIONS  OF  HINZELMANN      .     .  324 

XXXVIII    FAREWELL  TO  SUSKIND    ....  335 

XXXIX    THE  PASSING  OF  MANUEL   .     .     .  340 

XL    COLOPHON  :  DA  CAPO      ....  353 


A  FOREWORD 

"Amoto  quaramus  seria  ludo* 


i 
\ 


TO 

SINCLAIR  LEWIS. 


A  Foreword 


MY  DEAR  LEWIS  : 

To  you  (whom  I  take  to  be  as  familiar  with  the 
Manuelian  cycle  of  romance  as  is  any  person  now 
alive)  it  has  for  some  while  appeared,  I  know,  a 
not  uncurkxus  circumstance  that  in  the  Key  to  the 
Popular  Tales  of  Poictesme  there  should  have  been 
included  so  little  directly  relative  to  Manuel  himself. 
No  reader  of  the  Popular  Tales  (as  I  recall  your 
saying  at  the  Alum  when  we  talked  over,  among 
so  many  other  matters,  this  monumental  book)  can 
fail  to  note  that  always  Dom  Manuel  looms 
obscurely  in  the  background,  somewhat  as  do  King 
Arthur  and  white-bearded  Charlemagne  in  their 
several  cycles,  dispensing  justice  and  bestowing  re- 
wards, and  generally  arranging  the  future,  for  the 
survivors  of  the  outcome  of  stories  which  more 
intimately  concern  themselves  with  Anavalt  and 
Coth  and  Holden,  or  even  with  Sclaug  and 
Thragnar,  than  with  the  liege-lord  of  Poictesme, 
Except  in  the  old  sixteenth-century  chap-book  (un- 
known to  you,  I  believe,  and  never  reprinted  since 
1822,  and  not  ever  modernized  into  any  cognizable 
spelling),  there  seems  to  have  been  nowhere  an 

xi 


xii  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

English  rendering  of  the  legends  in  which  Dom 
Manuel  is  really  the  main  figure. 

Well,  this  book  attempts  to  supply  that  desider- 
atum, and  is,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  the  one 
fairly  complete  epitome  in  modern  English  of  the 
Manuelian  historiography  not  included  by  Lewistam 
which  has  yet  been  prepared. 

It  is  obvious,  of  course,  that  in  a  single  volume 
of  this  bulk  there  could  not  be  included  more  than 
a  selection  from  the  great  body  of  myths  which,  we 
may  assume,  have  accumulated  gradually  round  the 
mighty  though  shadowy  figure  of  Manuel  the  Re- 
deemer. Instead,  my  aim  has  been  to  make  choice 
of  such  stories  and  traditions  as  seemed  most  fit  to 
be  cast  into  the  shape  of  a  connected  narrative  and 
regular  sequence  of  events ;  to  lend  to  all  that  whole- 
some, edifying  and  optimistic  tone  which  in  read- 
ing-matter is  so  generally  preferable  to  mere  in- 
telligence; and  meanwhile  to  preserve  as  much  of 
the  quaint  style  of  the  gestes  as  is  consistent  with 
clearness.  Then,  too,  in  the  original  mediaeval 
romances,  both  in  their  prose  and  metrical  form, 
there  are  occasional  allusions  to  natural  processes 
which  make  these  stories  unfit  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  American  readers,  who,  as  a  body,  attest 
their  respectability  by  insisting  that  their  parents 
were  guilty  of  unmentionable  conduct;  and  such 
passages  of  course  necessitate  considerable  editine. 


GIVES  THE  FOREWORD  xiii 


No  schoolboy  (and  far  less  the  scholastic 
chronicler  of  those  last  final  upshots  for  whose 
furtherance  "Hannibal  invaded  Rome  and  Erasmus 
wrote  in  Oxford  cloisters")  needs  nowadays  to  be 
told  that  the  Manuel  of  these  legends  is  to  all  intents 
a  fictitious  person.  That  in  the  earlier  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century  there  was  ruling  over  the  Poic- 
toumois  a  powerful  chieftain  named  Manuel,  no- 
body has  of  late  disputed  seriously.  But  the  events 
of  the  actual  human  existence  of  this  Lord  of 
Poictesme — very  much  as  the  Emperor  Frederick 
Barbarossa  has  been  identified  with  the  wood-demon 
Barbatos,  and  the  prophet  Elijah,  "caught  up  into 
the  chariot  of  the  Vedic  Vayu,"  has  become  one 
with  the  Slavonic  Perun, — have  been  inextricably 
blended  with  the  legends  of  the  Dirghic  Manu-Elul, 
Lord  of  August. 

Thus  even  the  irregularity  in  Manuel's  eyes  is 
taken  by  Vanderhoffen,  in  his  Tudor  Tales,  to  be  a 
myth  connecting  Manuel  with  the  Vedic  Rudra 
and  the  Russian  Magarko  and  the  Servian  Vii, — 
"and  every  beneficent  storm-god  represented  with 
his  eye  perpetually  winking  (like  sheet  lightning), 
lest  his  concentrated  look  (the  thunderbolt)  should 
reduce  the  universe  to  ashes.  .  .  .  His  watery 
parentage,  and  the  storm-god's  relationship  with  a 


xiv  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

swan-maiden  of  the  Apsarasas  (typifying  the  mists 
and  clouds),  and  with  Freydis  the  fire  queen,  are 
equally  obvious :  whereas  Niaf er  is  plainly  a  variant 
of  Nephthys,  Lady  of  the  House,  whose  personality 
Dr.  Budge  sums  up  as  'the  goddess  of  the  death 
which  is  not  eternal,'  or  Nerthus,  the  Subterranean 
Earth,  which  the  warm  rain-storm  quickens  to  life 
and  fertility." 

All  this  seems  dull  enough  to  be  plausible.  Yet 
no  less  an  authority  than  Charles  Gamier  has  re- 
plied, in  rather  indignant  rebuttal:  "Qu'ont  ete 
en  realite  Manuel  et  Siegfried,  Achille  et  Rustem? 
Par  quels  exploits  ont-ils  merite  reternelle  admira- 
tion que  leur  ont  vouee  les  homines  de  leur  race? 
Nul  ne  repondra  jamais  a  ces  questions.  .  .  .  Mais 
Poictesme  croit  a  la  realite  de  cette  figure  que  ses 
romans  ont  faite  si  belle,  car  le  pays  n'a  pas  d'autre 
histoire.  Cette  figure  du  Comte  Manuel  est  reelle 
d'ailleurs,  car  elle  est  1'image  purifiee  de  la  race  qui 
Fa  produite,  et,  si  on  peut  s'exprimer  ainsi,  1'incarna- 
tion  de  son  genie." 

— Which  is  quite  just,  and,  when  you  come  to 
think  it  over,  proves  Dom  Manuel  to  be  nowadays, 
for  practical  purposes,  at  least  as  real  as  Dr.  Paul 
Vanderhoffen. 


Between  the  two  main  epic  cycles  of  Poictesme, 


GIVES  THE  FOREWORD  xv 

as  embodied  in  Les  Gestes  de  Manuel  and  La  Haulte 
Histoire  de  Jurgen,  more  or  less  comparison  is  in- 
evitable: and  therefore  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
Jurgen  epos  may  some  day  be  made  accessible  to 
American  readers. 

Says  Codman :  "The  Gestes  are  mundane  stories, 
the  History  is  a  cosmic  affair,  in  that,  where  Manuel 
faces  the  world,  Jurgen  considers  the  universe.  .  .  . 
Dom  Manuel  is  the  Achilles  of  Poictesme,  as  Jurgen 
is  its  Ulysses." 

Now,  roughly,  the  distinction  serves.  Yet 
minute  consideration  discovers,  I  think,  in  these  two 
sets  of  legends  a  more  profound,  if  .subtler,  differ- 
ence, in  the  handling  of  the  protagonist:  with 
Jurgen  all  of  the  physical  and  mental  man  is 
rendered  as  a  matter  of  course;  whereas  in  dealing 
with  Manuel  there  is,  always,  I  believe,  a  certain 
perceptible  and  strange,  if  not  inexplicable,  aloof- 
ness. Manuel  did  thus  and  thus,  Manuel  said  so 
and  so,  these  legends  recount:  yes,  but  never  any- 
where have  I  detected  any  firm  assertion  as  to 
Manuel's  thoughts  and  emotions,  nor  any  peep  into 
the  workings  of  this  hero's  mind.  He  is  "done" 
from  the  outside,  always  at  arm's  length.  It  is  not 
merely  that  Manuel's  nature  is  tinctured  with  the 
cool  unhumanness  of  his  father  the  water-demon: 
rather,  these  old  poets  of  Poictesme  would  seem, 
whether  of  intention  or  no,  to  have  dealt  with  their 


xvi  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

national  hero  as  an  admirable  person  whom  they 
have  never  been  able  altogether  to  love,  or  entirely 
to  sympathize  with,  or  to  view  quite  without  dis- 
trust. 

There  are  several  ways  of  accounting  for  this 
fact, — ranging  from  the  hurtful  as  well  as  benef- 
icent aspect  of  the  storm-god,  to  the  natural  in- 
ability of  a  poet  to  understand  a  man  who  succeeds 
in  everything:  but  the  fact  is,  after  all,  of  no  pres- 
ent importance  save  that  it  may  well  have  prompted 
Lewistam  to  scamp  his  dealings  with  this  always 
somewhat  ambiguous  Manuel,  and  so  to  omit  the 
hereinafter  included  legends,  as  unsuited  to  the 
clearer  and  sunnier  atmosphere  of  the  Popular 
Tales. 

For  my  part,  I  am  quite  content,  in  this  Comedy 
of  Appearances,  to  follow  the  old  romancers'  lead. 
"Such  and  such  things  were  said  and  done  by  our 
great  Manuel/'  they  say  to  us,  in  effect :  "such  and 
such  were  the  appearances,  and  do  you  make  what 
you  can  of  them." 

I  say  that,  too,  with  the  addition  that  in  real  life, 
also,  such  is  the  fashion  in  which  we  are  compelled 
to  deal  with  all  happenings  and  with  all  our  fellows, 
whether  they  wear  or  lack  the  gaudy  name  of 
heroism. 

Dumbarton  Grange 
October,  ip2O. 


PART  ONE 
THE  BOOK  OF  CREDIT 


TO 

WILSON  FOLLETT. 


"Then  answered  the  Sorcerer  drede- 
fully:  Manuel,  Manuel,  now  I  shall 
shewe  unto  thee  many  bokes  of  Nygro- 
mancy,  and  howe  thou  shalt  cum  by  it 
lyghtly  and  knowe  the  practyse  therein. 
And,  moreouer,  I  shall  shewe  and  in- 
forme  you  so  that  thou  shalt  haue  thy 
Desyre,  whereby  my  thynke  it  is  a  great 
Gyfte  for  so  lytyll  a  doynge." 


How  Manuel  Left  the  Mire 


THEY  of  Poictesme  narrate  that  in  the  old 
days  when  miracles  were  as  common  as  fruit 
pies,  young  Manuel  was  a  swineherd,  living 
modestly  in  attendance  upon  the  miller's  pigs. 
They  tell  also  that  Manuel  was  content  enough :  he 
knew  not  of  the  fate  which  was  reserved  for  him. 

Meanwhile  in  all  the  environs  of  Rathgor,  and  in 
the  thatched  villages  of  Lower  Targamon,  he  was 
well  liked :  and  when  the  young  people  gathered  in 
the  evening  to  drink  brandy  and  eat  nuts  and  ginger- 
bread, nobody  danced  more  merrily  than  Squinting 
Manuel.  He  had  a  quiet  way  with  the  girls,  and 
with  the  men  a  way  of  solemn,  blinking  simplicity 
which  caused  the  more  hasty  in  judgment  to  con- 
sider him  a  fool.  Then,  too,  young  Manuel  was 
very  often  detected  smiling  sleepily  over  nothing, 
and  his  gravest  care  in  life  appeared  to  be  that  figure 
which  Manuel  had  made  out  of  marsh  clay  from 
the  pool  of  Haranton. 

This  figure  he  was  continually  reshaping  and  re- 
altering.  The  figure  stood  upon  the  margin  of  the 
pool ;  and  near  by  were  two  stones  overgrown  with 

3 


FIGURES  OF  EARTH 


moss,  and  supporting  a  cross  of  old  worm-eaten 
wood,  which  commemorated  what  had  been  done 
there. 

One  day,  toward  autumn,  as  Manuel  was  sitting 
in  this  place,  and  looking  into  the  deep  still  water, 
a  stranger  came,  and  he  wore  a  fierce  long  sword 
that  interfered  deplorably  with  his  walking. 

"Now  I  wonder  what  it  is  you  find  in  that  dark 
pool  to  keep  you  staring  so?"  the  stranger  asked, 
first  of  all. 

"I  do  not  very  certainly  know,"  replied  Manuel, 
"but  mistily  I  seem  to  see  drowned  there  the  loves 
and  the  desires  and  the  adventures  I  had  when  I 
wore  another  body  than  this.  For  the  water  of 
Haranton,  I  must  tell  you,  is  not  like  the  water  of 
other  fountains,  and  curious  dreams  engender  in 
this  pool." 

"I  speak  no  ill  against  oneirology,  although  broad 
noon  is  hardly  the  best  time  for  its  practise,"  de- 
clared the  snub-nosed  stranger.  "But  what  is  that 
thing?"  he  asked,  pointing. 

"It  is  the  figure  of  a  man,  which  I  have  modeled 
and  re-modeled,  sir,  but  cannot  seem  to  get  exactly 
to  my  liking.  So  it  is  necessary  that  I  keep  labor- 
ing at  it  until  the  figure  is  to  my  thinking  and  my 
desire." 

"But,  Manuel,  what  need  is  there  for  you  to 
model  it  at  all?" 


LEAVES  THE  MIRE 


"Because  my  mother,  sir,  was  always  very 
anxious  for  me  to  make  a  figure  in  the  world,  and 
when  she  lay  a-dying  I  promised  her  that  I  would 
do  so,  and  then  she  put  a  geas  upon  me  to  do  it." 

"Ah,  to  be  sure!  but  are  you  certain  it  was  this 
kind  of  figure  she  meant  ?" 

"Yes,  for  I  have  often  heard  her  say  that,  when 
I  grew  up,  she  wanted  me  to  make  myself  a  splendid 
and  admirable  young  man  in  every  respect.  So  it 
is  necessary  that  I  make  the  figure  of  a  young  man, 
for  my  mother  was  not  of  these  parts,  but  a  woman 
of  Ath  Cliath,  and  so  she  put  a  geas  upon  me — " 

"Yes,  yes,  you  had  mentioned  this  geas,  and  I  am 
wondering  what  sort  of  a  something  is  this  geas." 

"It  is  what  you  might  call  a  bond  or  an  obligation, 
sir,  only  it  is  of  the  particularly  strong  and  un- 
reasonable and  secret  sort  which  the  Firbolg  use." 

The  stranger  now  looked  from  the  figure  to 
Manuel,  and  the  stranger  deliberated  the  question 
(which  later  was  to  puzzle  so  many  people)  if  any 
human  being  could  be  as  simple  as  Manuel  appeared. 
Manuel  at  twenty  was  not  yet  the  burly  giant  he 
became.  But  already  he  was  a  gigantic  and  florid 
person,  so  tall  that  the  heads  of  few  men  reached 
to  his  shoulder ;  a  person  of  handsome  exterior,  high 
featured  and  blond,  having  a  narrow  small  head,  and 
vivid  light  blue  eyes,  and  the  chest  of  a  stallion;  a 
person  whose  left  eyebrow  had  an  odd  oblique  droop, 


FIGURES  OF  EARTH 


so  that  the  stupendous  boy  at  his  simplest  appeared 
to  be  winking  the  information  that  he  was  in 
jest. 

All  in  all,  the  stranger  found  this  young  swine- 
herd ambiguous;  and  there  was  another  curious 
thing  too  which  the  stranger  noticed  about  Manuel. 

"Is  it  on  account  of  this  geas,"  asked  the  stranger, 
"that  a  great  lock  has  been  sheared  away  from  your 
yellow  hair?'* 

In  an  instant  Manuel's  face  became  dark  and 
wary.  "No,"  he  said,  "that  has  nothing  to  do  with 
my  geas,  and  we  must  not  talk  about  that." 

"Now  you  are  a  queer  lad  to  be  having  such  an 
obligation  upon  your  head,  and  to  be  having  well- 
nigh  half  the  hair  cut  away  from  your  head,  and  to 
be  having  inside  your  head  such  notions.  And 
while  small  harm  has  ever  come  from  humoring 
one's  mother,  yet  I  wonder  at  you,  Manuel,  that  you 
should  sit  here  sleeping  in  the  sunlight  among  your 
pigs,  and  be  giving  your  young  time  to  improbable 
sculpture  and  stagnant  water,  when  there  is  such  a 
fine  adventure  awaiting  you,  and  when  the  Norns 
are  foretelling  such  high  things  about  you  as  they 
spin  the  thread  of  your  living." 

"Hah,  glory  be  to  God,  friend,  but  what  is  this 
adventure?" 

"The  adventure  is  that  the  Count  of  Arnaye's 
daughter  yonder  has  been  carried  off  by  a  wizard, 


LEAVES  THE  MIRE 


and  that  the  high  Count  Demetrios  offers  much 
wealth  and  broad  lands,  and  his  daughter's  hand  in 
marriage  too,  to  the  lad  that  will  fetch  back  this 
lovely  girl." 

"I  have  heard  talk  of  this  in  the  kitchen  of 
Arnaye,  where  I  sometimes  sell  them  a  pig.  But 
what  are  such  matters  to  a  swineherd  ?" 

"My  lad,  you  are  to-day  a  swineherd  drowsing  in 
the  sun,  as  yesterday  you  were  a  baby  squalling  in 
the  cradle,  but  to-morrow  you  will  be  neither  of 
these  if  there  be  any  truth  whatever  in  the  talking 
of  the  Norns  as  they  gossip  at  the  foot  of  their 
ash-tree." 

Manuel  appeared  to  accept  the  inevitable.  He 
bowed  his  brightly  colored  high  head,  saying 
gravely:  "All  honor  be  to  Urdhr  and  Verdandi 
and  Skuld!  If  I  am  decreed  to  be  the  champion 
that  is  to  rescue  the  Count  of  Arnaye's  daughter,  it 
is  ill  arguing  with  the  Norns.  Come,  tell  me  now, 
how  do  you  call  this  doomed  wizard,  and  how  does 
one  get  to  him  to  sever  his  wicked  head  from  his 
foul  body?" 

"Men  speak  of  him  as  Miramon  Lluagor,  lord  of 
the  nine  kinds  of  sleep  and  prince  of  the  seven  mad- 
nesses. He  lives  in  mythic  splendor  at  the  top  of 
the  gray  mountain  called  Vraidex,  where  he  con- 
trives all  manner  of  illusions,  and,  in  particular,  de- 
signs the  dreams  of  men." 


FIGURES  OF  EARTH 


"Yes,  in  the  kitchen  of  Arnaye,  also,  such  was 
the  report  concerning  this  Miramon :  and  not  a  per- 
son in  the  kitchen  denied  that  this  Miramon  is  an 
ugly  customer." 

"He  is  the  most  subtle  of  wizards.  None  can 
withstand  him,  and  nobody  can  pass  the  terrible 
serpentine  designs  which  Miramon  has  set  to  guard 
the  gray  scarps  of  Vraidex  unless  one  carries  the 
more  terrible  sword  Flamberge,  which  I  have  here 
in  its  blue  scabbard." 

"Why,  then,  it  is  you  who  must  rescue  the  Count' s 
daughter." 

"No,  that  would  not  do  at  all :  for  there  is  in  the 
life  of  a  champion  too  much  of  turmoil  and  of 
bufferings  and  murderings  to  suit  me,  who  am  a 
peace-loving  person.  Besides,  to  the  champion  who 
rescues  the  Lady  Gisele  will  be  given  her  hand  in 
marriage,  and  as  I  have  a  wife,  I  know  that  to  have 
two  wives  would  lead  to  twice  too  much  dissension 
to  suit  me,  who  am  a  peace-loving  person.  So  I 
think  it  is  you  who  had  better  take  the  sword  and 
the  adventure/' 

"Well,"  Manuel  said,  "much  wealth  and  broad 
lands  and  a  lovely  wife  are  finer  things  to  ward  than 
a  parcel  of  pigs." 

So  Manuel  girded  on  the  charmed  scabbard,  and 
with  the  charmed  sword  he  sadly  demolished  the 
clay  figure  he  could  not  get  quite  right.  Then 


LEAVES  THE  MIRE 


Manuel  sheathed  Flamberge,  and  Manuel  cried  fare- 
well to  the  pigs. 

"I  shall  not  ever  return  to  you,  my  pigs,  because, 
at  worst,  to  die  valorously  is  better  than  to  sleep  out 
one's  youth  in  the  sun.  A  man  has  but  one  life.  It 
is  his  all.  Therefore  I  now  depart  from  you,  my 
pigs,  to  win  me  a  fine  wife  and  much  wealth  and 
leisure  wherein  to  discharge  my  geas.  And  when 
my  geas  is  lifted  I  shall  not  come  back  to  you,  my 
pigs,  but  I  shall  travel  everywhither,  and  into  the 
last  limits  of  earth,  so  that  I  may  see  the  ends  of 
this  world  and  may  judge  them  while  my  life  en- 
dures. For  after  that,  they  say,  I  judge  not,  but 
am  judged :  and  a  man  whose  life  has  gone  out  of 
him,  my  pigs,  is  not  even  good  bacon." 

"So  much  rhetoric  for  the  pigs,"  says  the 
stranger,  "is  well  enough,  and  likely  to  please  them. 
But  come,  is  there  not  some  girl  or  another  to  whom 
you  should  be  saying  good-bye  with  other  things 
than  words  ?" 

"No,  at  first  I  thought  I  would  also  bid  farewell 
to  Suskind,  who  is  sometimes  friendly  with  me  in 
the  twilight  wood,  but  upon  reflection  it  seems  better 
not  to.  For  Suskind  would  probably  weep,  and 
exact  promises  of  eternal  fidelity,  and  otherwise 
dampen  the  ardor  with  which  I  look  toward  to- 
morrow and  the  winning  of  the  wealthy  Count  of 
Arnaye's  lovely  daughter." 


10  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Now,  to  be  sure,  you  are  a  queer  cool  candid 
fellow,  you  young  Manuel,  who  will  go  far,  whether 
for  good  or  evil !" 

"I  do  not  know  about  good  or  evil.  But  I  am 
Manuel,  and  I  shall  follow  after  my  own  thinking 
and  my  own  desires." 

"And  certainly  it  is  no  less  queer  you  should  be 
saying  that :  for,  as  everybody  knows,  it  used  to  be 
the  favorite  byword  of  your  namesake  the  famous 
Count  Manuel  that  is  so  newly  dead  in  the  South 
yonder." 

At  that  the  young  swineherd  nodded  gravely.  "I 
must  accept  the  omen,  sir.  For,  as  I  interpret  it, 
my  great  namesake  has  courteously  made  way  for 
me,  in  order  that  I  may  go  far  beyond  him." 

Then  Manuel  cried  farewell  and  thanks  to  the 
mild-mannered,  snub-nosed  stranger,  and  Manuel 
left  the  miller's  pigs  to  their  own  devices  by  the 
pool  of  Haranton,  and  Manuel  marched  away  in  his 
rags  to  meet  a  fate  that  was  long  talked  about. 


2. 

Niafer 


THE  first  thing  of  all  that  Manuel  did,  was  to 
fill  a  knapsack  with  simple  and  nutritious 
food,  and  then  he  went  to  the  gray  mountain 
called  Vraidex,  upon  the  remote  and  cloud-wrapped 
summit  of  which  dread  Miramon  Lluagor  dwelt,  in 
a  doubtful  palace  wherein  the  lord  of  the  nine  sleeps 
contrived  illusions  and  designed  the  dreams  of  men. 
When  Manuel  had  passed  under  some  very  old 
maple-trees,  and  was  beginning  the  ascent,  he  found 
a  smallish,  flat- faced,  dark-haired  boy  going  up  be- 
fore him. 

"Hail,  snip,"  says  Manuel,  "and  whatever  are  you 
doing  in  this  perilous  place?" 

"Why,  I  am  going,"  the  dark-haired  boy  replied, 
"to  find  out  how  the  Lady  Gisele  d'Arnaye  is  faring 
on  the  tall  top  of  this  mountain." 

"Oho,  then  we  will  undertake  this  adventure  to- 
gether, for  that  is  my  errand  too.  And  when  the 
adventure  is  fulfilled,  we  will  fight  together,  and  the 
survivor  will  have  the  wealth  and  broad  lands  and 
the  Count's  daughter  to  sit  on  his  knee.  What  do 
they  call  you,  friend  ?" 

11 


12  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"I  am  called  Niafer.  But  I  believe  that  the  Lady 
Gisele  is  already  married,  to  Miramon  Lluagor.  At 
least,  I  sincerely  hope  she  is  married  to  this  wizard, 
for  otherwise  it  would  not  be  respectable  for  her  to 
be  living  with  him  at  the  top  of  this  gray  mountain." 

"Fluff  and  puff!  what  does  that  matter?"  says 
Manuel.  "There  is  no  law  against  a  widow's  re- 
marrying forthwith :  and  widows  are  quickly  made 
by  any  champion  about  whom  the  wise  Norns  are 
already  talking.  But  I  must  not  tell  you  about  that, 
Niafer,  because  I  do  not  wish  to  appear  boastful. 
So  I  must  simply  say  to  you,  Niafer,  that  I  am 
called  Manuel,  and  have  no  other  title  as  yet,  being 
not  yet  even  a  baron/' 

"Come  now,"  says  Niafer,  "but  you  are  rather 
sure  of  yourself  for  a  young  boy !" 

"Why,  of  what  may  I  be  sure  in  this  shifting 
world  if  not  of  myself  ?" 

"Our  elders,  Manuel,  declare  that  such  self-con- 
ceit is  a  fault,  and  our  elders,  they  say,  are  wiser 
than  we." 

"Our  elders,  Niafer,  have  long  had  the  manage- 
ment of  this  world's  affairs,  and  you  can  see  for 
yourself  what  they  have  made  of  these  affairs. 
What  sort  of  a  world  is  it,  I  ask  you,  in  which  time 
peculates  the  gold  from  hair  and  the  crimson  from 
all  lips,  and  the  north  wind  carries  away  the  glow 
and  glory  and  contentment  of  October,  and  a  drivel- 


HE  FINDS  NIAFER  13 

ing  old  wizard  steals  a  lovely  girl?  Why,  such 
maraudings  are  out  of  reason,  and  show  plainly  that 
our  elders  have  no  notion  how  to  manage  things." 

"Eh,  Manuel,  and  will  you  re-model  the  world?" 

"Who  knows?"  says  Manuel,  in  the  high  pride 
of  his  youth.  "At  all  events,  I  do  not  mean  to 
leave  it  unaltered." 

Then  Niafer,  a  more  prosaic  person,  gave  him  a 
long  look  compounded  equally  of  admiration  and 
pity,  but  Niafer  did  not  dispute  the  matter.  In- 
stead, these  two  pledged  constant  fealty  until  they 
should  have  rescued  Madame  Gisele. 

"Then  we  will  fight  for  her,"  says  Manuel,  again. 

"First,  Manuel,  let  me  see  her  face,  and  then  let 
me  see  her  state  of  mind,  and  afterward  I  will  see 
about  fighting  you.  Meanwhile,  this  is  a  very  tall 
mountain,  and  the  climbing  of  it  will  require  all  the 
breath  which  we  are  wasting  here." 

So  the  two  began  the  ascent  of  Vraidex,  by  the 
winding  road  upon  which  the  dreams  travel  when 
they  are  sent  down  to  men  by  the  lord  of  the  seven 
madnesses.  All  gray  rock  was  the  way  at  first. 
But  they  soon  reached  the  gnawed  bones  of  those 
who  had  ascended  before  them,  scattered  about  a 
small  plain  that  was  overgrown  with  ironweed :  and 
through  and  over  the  tall  purple  blossoms  came  to 
destroy  the  boys  the  Serpent  of  the  East,  a  very 
dreadful  design  with  which  Miramon  afflicts  the 


14  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

sleep  of  Lithuanians  and  Tatars.  The  snake  rode 
on  a  black  horse,  a  black  falcon  perched  on  his  head, 
and  a  black  hound  followed  him.  The  horse 
stumbled,  the  falcon  clamored,  the  hound  howled. 

Then  said  the  snake:  "My  steed,  why  do  you 
stumble?  my  hound,  why  do  you  howl?  and  my 
falcon,  why  do  you  clamor?  For  these  three  do- 
ings foresay  some  ill  to  me." 

"Oh,  a  great  ill!"  replies  Manuel,  with  his 
charmed  sword  out. 

But  Niaf er  cried :  "An  endless  ill  is  f oresaid  by 
these  doings.  For  I  have  been  to  the  Island  of  the 
Oaks:  and  under  the  twelfth  oak  was  a  copper 
casket,  and  in  the  casket  was  a  purple  duck,  and  in 
the  duck  was  an  egg :  and  in  the  egg,  O  Norka,  was 
and  is' your  death." 

"It  is  true  that  my  death  is  in  such  an  egg,"  said 
the  Serpent  of  the  East,  "but  nobody  will  ever  find 
that  egg,  and  therefore  I  am  resistless  and  im- 
mortal." 

"To  the  contrary,  the  egg,  as  you  can  perceive,  is 
in  my  hand ;  and  when  I  break  this  egg  you  will  die, 
and  it  is  smaller  worms  than  you  that  will  be  thank- 
ing me  for  their  supper  this  night" 

The  serpent  looked  at  the  poised  egg,  and  he 
trembled  and  writhed  so  that  his  black  scales 
scattered  everywhither  scintillations  of  reflected 
sunlight.  He  cried,  "Give  me  the  egg,  and  I  will 


HE  FINDS  NIAFER  15 

permit  you  two  to  pass  unmolested  to  a  more 
terrible  destruction." 

Niafer  was  not  eager  to  do  this,  but  Manuel 
thought  it  best,  and  so  at  last  Niafer  consented  to 
the  bargain,  for  the  sake  of  the  serpent' s  children. 
Then  the  two  lads  went  upward,  while  the  serpent 
bandaged  the  eyes  of  his  horse  and  of  his  hound, 
and  hooded  his  falcon,  and  crept  gingerly  away  to 
hide  the  egg  in  an  unmentionable  place. 

"But  how  in  the  devil,"  says  Manuel,  "did  you 
manage  to  come  by  that  invaluable  egg  ?" 

"It  is  a  quite  ordinary  duck  egg,  Manuel.  But 
the  Serpent  of  the  East  has  no  way  of  discovering 
that  unless  he  breaks  the  egg:  and  that  is  the  one 
thing  the  serpent  will  never  do,  because  he  thinks 
it  is  the  magic  egg  which  contains  his  death." 

"Come,  Niafer,  you  are  not  handsome  to  look  at, 
but  you  are  far  cleverer  than  I  thought  you !" 

Now  as  Manuel  clapped  Niafer  on  the  shoulder, 
the  forest  beside  the  roadway  was  agitated,  and  the 
underbrush  crackled,  and  the  tall  beech-trees  crashed 
and  snapped  and  tumbled  helter-skelter.  The  crust 
of  the  earth  was  thus  broken  through  by  the  Ser- 
pent of  the  North.  Only  the  head  and  throat  of 
this  design  of  Miramon's  was  lifted  from  the 
jumbled  trees,  for  it  was  requisite  of  course  that  the 
serpent's  lower  coils  should  never  loose  their  grip 
upon  the  foundations  of  Norroway.  All  of  the  de- 


16  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

sign  that  showed  was  overgrown  with  seaweed  and 
barnacles. 

"It  is  the  will  of  Miramon  Lluagor  that  I  forth- 
with demolish  you  both,"  says  this  serpent,  yawn- 
ing with  a  mouth  like  a  fanged  cave. 

Once  more  young  Manuel  had  brandished  his 
charmed  sword  Flamberge,  but  it  was  Niafer  who 
spoke. 

"No,  for  before  you  can  destroy  me,"  says 
Niafer,  "I  shall  have  cast  this  bridle  over  your 
head." 

"What  sort  of  bridle  is  that?"  inquired  the  great 
snake  scornfully. 

"And  are  those  goggling  flaming  eyes  not  big 
enough  and  bright  enough  to  see  that  this  is  the  soft 
bridle  called  Gleipnir,  which  is  made  of  the  breath 
of  fish  and  of  the  spittle  of  birds  and  of  the  foot- 
fall of  a  cat?" 

"Now,  although  certainly  such  a  bridle  was  fore- 
told," the  snake  conceded,  a  little  uneasily,  "how 
can  I  make  sure  that  you  speak  the  truth  when  you 
say  this  particular  bridle  is  Gleipnir?" 

"Why,  in  this  way:  I  will  cast  the  bridle  over 
your  head,  and  then  you  will  see  for  yourself  that 
the  old  prophecy  will  be  fulfilled,  and  that  all  power 
and  all  life  will  go  out  of  you,  and  that  the  North- 
men will  dream  no  more." 

"No,  do  you  keep  that  thing  away  from  me,  you 


HE  FINDS  NIAFER  17 

little  fool !  No,  no :  we  will  not  test  your  truthful- 
ness in  that  way.  Instead,  do  you  two  go  your  way 
to  a  more  terrible  destruction,  and  to  face  barbaric 
dooms  coming  from  the  west.  And  do  you  give 
me  the  bridle  to  demolish  in  place  of  you.  And 
then,  if  I  live  forever  I  shall  know  that  this  is  in- 
deed Gleipnir,  and  that  you  have  spoken  the  truth." 

So  Niafer  consented  to  this  testing  of  his 
veracity,  rather  than  permit  this  snake  to  die,  and 
the  foundations  of  Norroway  (in  which  kingdom, 
Niafer  confessed,  he  had  an  aunt  then  living)  thus 
to  be  dissolved  by  the  loosening  of  the  dying  ser- 
pent's grip  upon  Middlegarth.  The  bridle  was 
yielded,  and  Niafer  and  Manuel  went  upward. 

Manuel  asked,  "Snip,  was  that  in  truth  the  bridle 
called  Gleipnir?" 

"No,  Manuel,  it  is  an  ordinary  bridle.  But  the 
Serpent  of  the  North  has  no  way  of  discovering  this 
except  by  fitting  the  bridle  over  his  head:  and  this 
one  thing  the  serpent  will  never  do,  because  he 
knows  that  then,  if  my  bridle  proved  to  be  Gleipnir, 
all  power  and  all  life  would  go  out  of  him." 

"O  subtle,  ugly  little  snip!"  says  Manuel:  and 
again  he  patted  Niafer  on  the  shoulder.  Then 
Manuel  spoke  very  highly  in  praise  of  cleverness, 
and  said  that,  for  one,  he  had  never  objected  to  it 
in  its  place. 


Ascent  of  V  raid  ex 


NOW  it  was  evening,  and  the  two  sought 
shelter  in  a  queer  windmill  by  the  roadside, 
finding  there  a  small  wrinkled  old  man  in  a 
patched  coat.  He  gave  them  lodgings  for  the 
night,  and  honest  bread  and  cheese,  but  for  his  own 
supper  he  took  frogs  out  of  his  bosom,  and  roasted 
these  in  the  coals. 

Then  the  two  boys  sat  in  the  doorway,  and 
watched  that  night's  dreams  going  down  from 
Vraidex  to  their  allotted  work  in  the  world  of 
visionary  men,  to  whom  these  dreams  were  passing 
in  the  form  of  incredible  white  vapors.  Sitting 
thus,  the  lads  fell  to  talking  of  this  and  the  other, 
and  Manuel  found  that  Niafer  was  a  pagan  of  the 
old  faith:  and  this,  said  Manuel,  was  an  excellent 
thing. 

"For  when  we  have  achieved  our  adventure," 
says  Manuel,  "and  must  fight  against  each  other 
for  the  Count's  daughter,  I  shall  certainly  kill  you, 
dear  Niafer.  Now  if  you  were  a  Christian,  and 
died  thus  unholily  in  trying  to  murder  me,  you 
would  have  to  go  thereafter  to  the  unquenchable 


ASCENT  OF  VRAIDEX  19 

flames  of  Purgatory  or  to  even  hotter  flames:  but 
among  the  pagans  all  that  die  valiantly  in  battle 
go  straight  to  the  pagan  paradise.  Yes,  yes,  your 
abominable  religion  is  a  great  comfort  to  me." 

"It  is  a  comfort  to  me  also,  Manuel.  But  as  a 
Christian,  you  ought  not  to  have  any  kind  words 
for  heathenry." 

"Ah,  but,"  says  Manuel,  "while  my  mother 
Dorothy  of  the  White  Arms  was  the  most  zealous 
sort  of  Christian,  my  father,  you  must  know,  was 
not  a  communicant." 

"Who  was  your  father,  Manuel  ?" 

"No  less  a  person  than  the  Swimmer,  Oriander, 
who  is  in  turn  the  son  of  Mimir." 

"Ah,  to  be  sure!  and  who  is  Mimir?" 

"Well,  Niafer,  that  is  a  thing  not  very  generally 
known,  but  he  is  famed  for  his  wise  head." 

"And,  Manuel,  who,  while  we  speak  of  it,  is 
Oriander?" 

Said  Manuel : 

"Oh,  out  of  the  void  and  the  darkness  that  is 
peopled  by  Mimir's  brood,  from  the  ultimate  silent 
fastness  of  the  desolate  deep-sea  gloom,  and  the 
peace  of  that  ageless  gloom,  blind  Oriander  came, 
from  Mimir,  to  be  at  war  with  the  sea  and  to  jeer 
at  the  sea's  desire.  When  tempests  are  seething 
and  roaring  from  the  ^Esir's  inverted  bowl  all  sea- 
men have  heard  his  shouting  and  the  cry  that  his 


20  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

mirth  sends  up :  when  the  rim  of  the  sea  tilts  up, 
and  the  world's  roof  wavers  down,  his  face  gleams 
white  where  distraught  waves  smite  the  Swimmer 
they  may  not  tire.  No  eyes  were  allotted  this 
Swimmer,  but  in  blindness,  with  ceaseless  jeers,  he 
battles  till  time  be  done  with,  and  the  love-songs 
of  earth  be  sung,  and  the  very  last  dirge  be  sung, 
and  a  baffled  and  outworn  sea  begrudgingly  own 
Oriander  alone  may  mock  at  the  might  of  its  ire." 

"Truly,  Manuel,  that  sounds  like  a  parent  to  be 
proud  of,  and  not  at  all  like  a  church-going  parent, 
and  of  course  his  blindness  would  account  for  that 
squint  of  yours.  Yes,  certainly  it  would.  So  do 
you  tell  me  about  this  blind  Oriander,  and  how  he 
came  to  meet  your  mother  Dorothy  of  the  White 
Arms,  as  I  suppose  he  did  somewhere  or  other." 

"Oh,  no,"  says  Manuel,  "for  Oriander  never 
leaves  off  swimming,  and  so  he  must  stay  always  in 
the  water.  So  he  never  actually  met  my  mother, 
and  she  married  Emmerick,  who  is  my  nominal 
father.  But  such  and  such  things  happened." 

Then  Manuel  told  Niafer  all  about  the  circum- 
stances of  Manuel's  birth  in  a  cave,  and  about  the 
circumstances  of  Manuel's  upbringing  in  and  near 
Rathgor:  and  the  two  boys  talked  on  and  on,  while 
the  unborn  dreams  went  drifting  by  outside,  and 
within,  the  small  wrinkled  old  man  sat  listening  with 
a  very  doubtful  smile,  and  saying  never  a  word. 


ASCENT  OF  VRAIDEX  21 

"And  why  is  your  hair  cut  so  queerly,  Manuel?" 

"That,  Niafer,  we  need  not  talk  about,  in  part 
because  it  is  not  going  to  be  cut  that  way  any  longer, 
and  in  part  because  it  is  time  for  bed." 

The  next  morning  Manuel  and  Niafer  paid  the 
ancient  price  which  their  host  required.  They  left 
him  cobbling  shoes,  and,  still  ascending,  encountered 
no  more  bones,  for  nobody  else  had  climbed  so 
high.  They  presently  came  to  a  bridge  whereon 
were  eight  spears,  and  the  bridge  was  guarded  by 
the  Serpent  of  the  West.  This  snake  was  striped 
with  blue  and  gold,  and  wore  on  his  head  a  great 
cap  of  humming-birds'  feathers. 

Manuel  half  drew  his  sword  to  attack  this  ser- 
pentine design,  with  which  Miramon  Lluagor  makes 
sleeping  terrible  for  the  red  tribes  that  hunt  and  fish 
behind  the  Hesperides.  But  Manuel  looked  at 
Niafer. 

And  Niafer  displayed  a  drolly  marked  small 
turtle,  saying,  "Maskanako,  do  you  not  recognize 
Tulapin,  the  turtle  that  never  lies  ?" 

The  serpent  howled,  as  though  a  thousand  dogs 
had  been  kicked  simultaneously,  and  the  serpent  fled. 

"Why,  snip,  did  he  do  that  ?"  asked  Manuel,  smil- 
ing sleepily  and  gravely,  as  for  the  third  time  he 
found  that  his  charmed  sword  Flamberge  was  un- 
needed. 

"Truly,  Manuel,  nobody  knows  why  this  serpent 


22  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

dreads  the  turtle :  but  our  concern  is  less  with  the 
cause  than  with  the  effect.  Meanwhile,  those  eight 
spears  are  not  to  be  touched  on  any  account." 

"Is  what  you  have  a  quite  ordinary  turtle?"  asked 
Manuel,  meekly. 

Niafer  said :  "Of  course  it  is.  Where  would  I 
be  getting  extraordinary  turtles?" 

"I  had  not  previously  considered  that  problem," 
replied  Manuel,  "but  the  question  is  certainly  un- 
answerable." 

They  then  sat  down  to  lunch,  and  found  the  bread 
and  cheese  they  had  purchased  from  the  little  old 
man  that  morning  was  turned  to  lumps  of  silver  and 
virgin  gold  in  Manuel's  knapsack.  "This  is  very 
disgusting,"  said  Manuel,  "and  I  do  not  wonder  my 
back  was  near  breaking."  He  flung  away  the 
treasure,  and  they  lunched  frugally  on  blackberries. 

From  among  the  entangled  blackberry  bushes 
came  the  glowing  Serpent  of  the  South,  who  is  the 
smallest  and  loveliest  and  most  poisonous  of 
Miramon's  designs.  With  this  snake  Niafer  dealt 
curiously.  Niafer  employed  three  articles  in  the 
transaction :  two  of  these  things  are  not  to  be  talked 
about,  but  the  third  was  a  little  figure  carved  in 
hazel-wood. 

"Certainly  you  are  very  clever,"  said  Manuel, 
when  they  had  passed  this  serpent.  "Still,  your  em- 
ployment of  those  first  two  articles  was  unprece- 


ASCENT  OF  VRAIDEX  23 

dented,  and  your  disposal  of  the  carved  figure  abso- 
lutely embarrassed  me." 

"Before  such  danger  as  confronted  us,  Manuel, 
it  does  not  pay  to  be  squeamish/'  replied  Niafer, 
"and  my  exorcism  was  good  Dirgham." 

And  many  other  adventures  and  perils  they  en- 
countered, such  as  if  all  were  told  would  make  a 
long  and  most  improbable  history.  But  they  had 
clear  favorable  weather,  and  they  won  through  each 
pinch,  by  one  or  another  fraud,  which  Niafer 
evolved  the  instant  that  gullery  was  needed. 
Manuel  was  loud  in  his  praises  of  the  surprising 
cleverness  of  his  flat-faced  dark  comrade,  and  pro- 
tested that  hourly  he  loved  Niafer  more  and  more: 
and  Manuel  said  too  that  he  was  beginning  to  think 
more  and  more  distastefully  of  the  time  when 
Niafer  and  Manuel  would  have  to  fight  for  the 
Count  of  Arnaye's  daughter  until  one  of  them  had 
killed  the  other. 

Meanwhile  the  sword  Flamberge  stayed  in  its 
curious  blue  scabbard. 


In  the  Doubtful  Palace 


SO  Manuel  and  Niafer  came  unhurt  to  the  top 
of  the  gray  mountain  called  Vraidex,  and  to 
the  doubtful  palace  of  Miramon  Lluagor. 
Gongs,  slowly  struck,  were  sounding  as  if  in  languid 
dispute  among  themselves,  when  the  two  lads  came 
across  a  small  level  plain  where  grass  was  inter- 
spersed with  white  clover.  Here  and  there  stood 
wicked  looking  dwarf  trees  with  violet  and  yellow 
foliage.  The  doubtful  palace  before  the  circum- 
spectly advancing  boys  appeared  to  be  constructed 
of  black  and  gold  lacquer,  and  it  was  decorated  with 
the  figures  of  butterflies  and  tortoises  and  swans. 

This  day  being  a  Thursday,  Manuel  and  Niafer 
entered  unchallenged  through  gates  of  horn  and 
ivory;  and  came  into  a  red  corridor  in  which  five 
gray  beasts,  like  large  hairless  cats,  were  casting 
dice :  these  animals  grinned  and  licked  their  lips  as 
the  boys  passed  deeper  into  the  doubtful  palace. 

In  the  centre  of  the  palace  Miramon  had  set  like 
a  tower  one  of  the  tusks  of  Behemoth :  the  tusk  was 
hollowed  out  into  five  large  rooms,  and  in  the  in- 

24 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  25 

most  room,  under  a  canopy  with  green  tassels,  they 
found  the  wizard. 

"Come  forth,  and  die  now,  Miramon  Lluagor!" 
shouts  Manuel,  brandishing  his  sword,  for  which  at 
last  employment  was  promised  here. 

And  the  wizard  drew  closer  about  him  his  old 
threadbare  dressing-gown,  and  desisted  from  his  en- 
chantments, and  put  aside  a  small  unfinished  design, 
which  scuttled  into  the  fireplace,  whimpering.  And 
Manuel  perceived  that  this  wizard  had  the  appear- 
ance of  the  mild-mannered  stranger  who  had  given 
Manuel  the  charmed  sword. 

"Ah,  yes,  it  was  good  of  you  to  come  so  soon," 
says  Miramon  Lluagor,  rearing  back  his  head,  and 
half  closing  his  gentle  and  sombre  eyes,  as  the 
wizard  looked  at  them  down  the  sides  of  what  little 
nose  he  had:  "yes,  and  your  young  friend,  too,  is 
very  welcome.  But  you  boys  must  be  quite  worn 
out,  after  toiling  up  this  mountain,  so  do  you  sit 
down  and  have  a  cup  of  wine  before  I  surrender  my 
dear  wife." 

Says  Manuel,  sternly,  "But  what  is  the  meaning 
of  all  this?" 

"The  meaning  and  the  upshot,  clearly,"  replied 
the  wizard,  "is  that,  since  you  have  the  charmed 
sword  Flamberge,  and  since  the  wearer  of  Flam- 
berge  is  irresistible,  it  would  be  nonsense  for  me  to 
oppose  you." 


26  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"But,  Miramon,  it  was  you  who  gave  me  the 
sword!" 

Miramon  rubbed  his  droll  little  nose  for  a  while 
before  speaking.  "And  how  else  was  I  to  get 
conquered?  For,  I  must  tell  you,  Manuel,  it  is  a 
law  of  the  Leshy  that  a  wizard  cannot  surrender 
his  prey  unless  the  wizard  be  conquered.  I  must 
tell  you,  too,  that  when  I  carried  off  Gisele  I  acted, 
as  I  by  and  by  discovered,  rather  injudiciously." 

"Now,  by  holy  Paul  and  Pollux !  I  do  not  under- 
stand this  at  all,  Miramon." 

"Why,  Manuel,  you  must  know  she  was  a  very 
charming  girl,  and  in  appearance  just  the  type  that 
I  had  always  fancied  for  a  wife.  But  perhaps  it  is 
not  wise  to  be  guided  entirely  by  appearances.  For 
I  find  now  that  she  has  a  strong  will  in  her  white 
bosom,  and  a  tireless  tongue  in  her  glittering  head, 
and  I  do  not  equally  admire  all  four  of  these 
possessions." 

"Still,  Miramon,  if  only  a  few  months  back  your 
love  was  so  great  as  to  lead  you  into  abducting 
her—" 

The  wizard  said  gravely : 

"Love,  as  I  think,  is  an  instant's  fusing  of  shadow 
and  substance.  They  that  aspire  to  possess  love 
utterly  fall  into  folly.  This  is  forbidden:  you 
cannot.  The  lover,  beholding  that  fusing  move  as 
a  golden-hued  goddess,  accessible,  kindly  and  price- 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  27 

less,  wooes  and  ill-fatedly  wins  all  the  substance. 
The  golden-hued  shadow  dims  in  the  dawn  of  his 
married  life,  dulled  with  content,  and  the  shadow 
vanishes.  So  there  remains,  for  the  puzzled  hus- 
band's embracing,  flesh  which  is  fair  and  dear,  no 
doubt,  yet  is  flesh  such  as  his;  and  talking  and  talk- 
ing and  talking;  and  kisses  in  all  ways  desirable. 
Love,  of  a  sort,  too  remains,  but  hardly  the  love 
that  was  yesterday's." 

Now  the  unfinished  design  came  out  of  the  fire- 
place, and  climbed  up  Miramon's  leg,  still  faintly 
whimpering.  He  looked  at  it  meditatively,  then 
twisted  off  the  creature's  head  and  dropped  the 
fragments  into  his  waste-basket. 

Miramon  sighed.     He  said : 

"This  is  the  cry  of  all  husbands  that  now  are 
or  may  be  hereafter, — 'What  has  become  of  the 
girl  that  I  married?  and  how  should  I  rightly  deal 
with  this  woman  whom  somehow  time  has  involved 
in  my  doings  ?  Love,  of  a  sort,  now  I  have  for  her, 
but  not  the  love  that  was  yesterday's — '  " 

While  Miramon  spoke  thus,  the  two  lads  were 
looking  at  each  other  blankly :  for  they  were  young, 
and  their  understanding  of  this  matter  was  as  yet 
withheld. 

Then  said  Miramon : 

"Yes,  he  is  wiser  that  shelters  his  longing  from 
any  such  surfeit.  Yes,  he  is  wiser  that  knows  the 


28  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

shadow  makes  lovely  the  substance,  wisely  regard- 
ing the  ways  of  that  irresponsible  shadow  which, 
if  you  grasp  at  it,  flees,  and,  when  you  avoid  it, 
will  follow,  gilding  all  life  with  its  glory,  and  keep- 
ing always  one  woman  young  and  most  fair  and 
most  wise,  and  unwon;  and  keeping  you  always 
never  contented,  but  armed  with  a  self-respect  that 
no  husband  manages  quite  to  retain  in  the  face  of 
being  contented.  No,  for  love  is  an  instant's  fusing 
of  shadow  and  substance,  fused  for  that  instant 
only,  whereafter  the  lover  may  harvest  pleasure 
from  either  alone,  but  hardly  from  these  two 
united." 

"Well,"  Manuel  conceded,  "all  this  may  be  true; 
but  I  never  quite  understood  hexameters,  and  so  I 
could  not  ever  see  the  good  of  talking  in  them." 

"Ah,  but  I  always  do  that,  Manuel,  when  I  am 
deeply  affected.  It  is,  I  suppose,  the  poetry  in  my 
nature  welling  to  the  surface  the  moment  that  in- 
hibitions are  removed,  for  when  I  think  about  the 
impending  severance  from  my  dear  wife  I  more 
or  less  lose  control  of  myself —  You  see,  she  takes 
an  active  interest  in  my  work,  and  that  does  not  do 
with  a  creative  artist  in  any  line.  Oh,  dear  me,  no, 
not  for  a  moment !"  says  Miramon,  forlornly. 

"But  how  can  that  be?"  Niafer  asked  him. 

"As  all  persons  know,  I  design  the  dreams  of 
men.  Now  Gisele  asserts  that  people  have  enough 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  29 

trouble  in  real  life,  without  having  to  go  to  sleep  to 
look  for  it—" 

"Certainly  that  is  true,"  says  Niafer. 

"So  she  permits  me  only  to  design  bright 
optimistic  dreams  and  edifying  dreams  and  glad 
dreams.  She  says  you  must  give  tired  persons  what 
they  most  need;  and  is  emphatic  about  the  impor- 
tance of  everybody's  sleeping  in  a  wholesome  atmos- 
phere. So  I  have  not  been  permitted  to  design  a 
fine  nightmare  or  a  creditable  terror — nothing 
morbid  or  blood-freezing,  no  sea-serpents  or  krakens 
or  hippogriffs,  nor  anything  that  gives  me  a  really 
free  hand, — for  months  and  months:  and  my  art 
suffers.  Then,  as  for  other  dreams,  of  a  more 
roguish  nature — " 

"What  sort  of  dreams  can  you  be  talking  about, 
I  wonder,  Miramon?" 

The  wizard  described  what  he  meant.  "Now 
such  dreams  also  she  has  quite  forbidden,"  he 
added,  with  a  sigh. 

"I  see,"  said  Manuel :  "and  now  I  think  of  it,  it 
is  true  that  I  have  not  had  a  dream  of  that  sort  for 
quite  a  while." 

"No  man  anywhere  is  allowed  to  have  that  sort 
of  dream  in  these  degenerate  nights,  no  man  any- 
where in  the  whole  world.  And  here  again  my  art 
suffers,  for  my  designs  in  this  line  were  always 
especially  vivid  and  effective,  and  pleased  the  most 


30  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

rigid.  Then,  too,  Gisele  is  always  doing  and  telling 
me  things  for  my  own  good —  In  fine,  my  lads,  my 
wife  takes  such  a  flattering  interest  in  all  my  con- 
cerns that  the  one  way  out  for  any  human  wizard 
was  to  contrive  her  rescue  from  my  clutches,"  said 
Miramon,  fretfully.  "It  is  difficult  to  explain  to 
you,  Manuel,  just  now,  but  after  you  have  been 
married  to  Gisele  for  a  while  you  will  comprehend 
without  any  explaining." 

"Now,  Miramon,  I  marvel  to  see  a  great  wizard 
controlled  by  a  woman  who  is  in  his  power,  and 
who  can,  after  all,  do  nothing  but  talk." 

Miramon  for  some  while  considered  Manuel 
rather  helplessly.  "Unmarried  men  do  wonder 
about  that,"  said  Miramon.  "At  all  events,  I  will 
summon  her,  and  you  can  explain  how  you  have 
conquered  me,  and  then  you  can  take  her  away  and 
marry  her  yourself,  and  Heaven  help  you !" 

"But  shall  I  explain  that  it  was  you  who  gave 
me  the  resistless  sword?" 

"No,  Manuel :  no,  you  should  be  candid  within 
more  rational  limits.  For  you  are  now  a  famous 
champion,  that  has  crowned  with  victory  a  righteous 
cause  for  which  many  stalwart  knights  and  gallant 
gentlemen  have  made  the  supreme  sacrifice,  because 
they  knew  that  in  the  end  the  right  must  conquer. 
Your  success  thus  represents  the  working  out  of  a 
great  moral  principle,  and  to  explain  the  practical 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  31 

minutiae  of  these  august  processes  is  not  always 
quite  respectable.  Besides,  if  Gisele  thought  I 
wished  to  get  rid  of  her  she  would  most  certainly 
resort  to  comments  of  which  I  prefer  not  to  think." 

But  now  into  the  room  came  the  wizard's  wife, 
Gisele. 

"She  is  certainly  rather  pretty,"  said  Niafer,  to 
Manuel. 

Said  Manuel,  rapturously:  "She  is  the  finest 
and  loveliest  creature  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Be- 
holding her  unequalled  beauty,  I  know  that  here 
are  all  the  dreams  of  yesterday  fulfilled.  I  recol- 
lect, too,  my  songs  of  yesterday,  which  I  was  used 
to  sing  to  my  pigs,  about  my  love  for  a  far  princess 
who  was  'white  as  a  lily,  more  red  than  roses,  and 
resplendent  as  rubies  of  the  Orient/  for  here  I  find 
my  old  songs  to  be  applicable,  if  rather  inadequate. 
And  by  this  shabby  wizard's  failure  to  appreciate 
such  unequalled  beauty  I  am  amazed." 

"Oh,  as  to  that,  I  have  my  suspicions/'  Niafer  re- 
plied. "And  now  she  is  about  to  speak  I  believe 
she  will  justify  these  suspicions,  for  Madame  Gisele 
is  in  no  placid  frame  of  mind." 

"What  is  this  nonsense,"  says  the  proud  shining 
lady,  to  Miramon  Lluagor,  "that  I  hear  about  your 
having  been  conquered?" 

"Alas,  my  love,  it  is  perfectly  true.  This  cham- 
pion has,  in  some  inexplicable  way,  come  by  the 


32  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

magic  weapon  Flamberge  which  is  the  one  weapon 
wherewith  I  can  be  conquered.  So  I  have  yielded 
to  him,  and  he  is  about,  I  think,  to  sever  my  head 
from  my  body." 

The  beautiful  girl  was  indignant,  because  she  had 
recognized  that,  wizard  or  no,  there  is  small  differ- 
ence in  husbands  after  the  first  month  or  two;  and 
with  Miramon  tolerably  well  trained,  she  had  no 
intention  of  changing  him  for  another  husband. 
Therefore  Gisele  inquired,  "And  what  about  me?" 
in  a  tone  that  foreboded  turmoil. 

The  wizard  rubbed  his  hands,  uncomfortably. 
"My  dear,  I  am  of  course  quite  powerless  before 
Flamberge.  Inasmuch  as  your  rescue  appears  to 
have  been  effected  in  accordance  with  every  rule  in 
these  matters,  and  the  victorious  champion  is  reso- 
lute to  requite  my  evil-doing  and  to  restore  you  to 
your  grieving  parents,  I  am  afraid  there  is  nothing  I 
can  well  do  about  it." 

"Do  you  look  me  in  the  eye,  Miramon  Lluagor !" 
says  the  Lady  Gisele.  The  wizard  obeyed,  with  a 
placating  smile.  "Yes,  you  have  been  up  to  some- 
thing," she  said,  "and  Heaven  only  knows  what, 
though  of  course  it  does  not  really  matter." 

Madame  Gisele  then  looked  at  Manuel.  "So, 
you  are  the  champion  that  has  come  to  rescue  me !" 
she  said,  unhastily,  as  her  big  sapphire  eyes  ap- 
praised him  over  her  great  fan  of  gaily  colored 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  33 

feathers,  and  as  Manuel  somehow  began  to  fidget. 

Gisele  looked  last  of  all  at  Niafer.  "I  must  say 
you  have  been  long  enough  in  coming,"  observed 
Gisele. 

"It  took  me  two  days,  madame,  to  find  and  catch 
a  turtle,"  Niafer  replied,  "and  that  delayed  me." 

"Oh,  you  have  always  some  tale  or  other,  trust 
you  for  that,  but  it  is  better  late  than  never.  Come, 
Niafer,  and  do  you  know  anything  about  this 
gawky,  ragtag,  yellow-haired  young  champion?" 

"Yes,  madame,  he  formerly  lived  in  attendance 
upon  the  miller's  pigs,  down  Rathgor  way,  and  I 
have  seen  him  hanging  about  the  kitchen  at 
Arnaye." 

Gisele  turned  toward  the  wizard,  with  her  thin 
gold  chains  and  the  innumerable  brilliancies  of  her 
jewels  flashing  no  more  brightly  than  flashed  the 
sapphire  of  her  eyes.  "There !"  she  said,  terribly : 
"and  you  were  going  to  surrender  me  to  a  swine- 
herd, with  half  the  hair  chopped  from  his  head,  and 
with  the  shirt  sticking  out  of  both  his  ragged 
elbows!" 

"My  dearest,  irrespective  of  tonsorial  tastes,  and 
disregarding  all  sartorial  niceties,  and  swineherd  or 
not,  he  holds  the  magic  sword  Flamberge,  before 
which  all  my  powers  are  nothing." 

"But  that  is  easily  settled.  Have  men  no  sense 
whatever!  Boy,  do  you*  give  me  that  sword,  be- 


34  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

fore  you  hurt  yourself  fiddling  with  it,  and  let  us 
have  an  end  of  this  nonsense.'* 

Thus  the  proud  lady  spoke,  and  for  a  while  the 
victorious  champion  regarded  her  with  very  youth- 
ful looking,  hurt  eyes.  But  he  was  not  routed. 

"Madame  Gisele,"  replied  Manuel,  "gawky  and 
poorly  clad  and  young  as  I  may  be,  so  long  as  I  re- 
tain this  sword  I  am  master  of  you  all  and  of  the 
future  too.  Yielding  it,  I  yield  everything  my 
elders  have  taught  me  to  prize,  for  my  grave  elders 
have  taught  me  that  much  wealth  and  broad  lands 
and  a  lovely  wife  are  finer  things  to  ward  than  a 
parcel  of  pigs.  So,  if  I  yield  at  all,  I  must  first 
bargain  and  get  my  price  for  yielding." 

He  turned  now  from  Gisele  to  Niafer.  "Dear 
snip"  said  Manuel,  "you  too  must  have  your  say  in 
my  bargaining,  because  from  the  first  it  has  been 
your  cleverness  that  has  saved  us,  and  has  brought 
us  two  so  high.  For  see,  at  last  I  have  drawn 
Flamberge,  and  I  stand  at  last  at  the  doubtful  sum- 
mit of  Vraidex,  and  I  am  master  of  the  hour  and 
of  the  future.  I  have  but  to  sever  the  wicked  head 
of  this  doomed  wizard  from  his  foul  body,  and  that 
will  be  the  end  of  him — " 

"No,  no,"  says  Miramon,  soothingly,  "I  shall 
merely  be  turned  into  something  else,  which  perhaps 
we  had  better  not  discuss.  But  it  will  not  incon- 
venience me  in  the  least,  so  do  you  not  hold  back 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  35 

out  of  mistaken  kindness  to  me,  but  instead  do  you 
smite,  and  take  your  well-earned  reward." 

"Either  way,"  submitted  Manuel,  "I  have  but  to 
strike,  and  I  acquire  much  wealth  and  sleek  farm- 
ing-lands and  a  lovely  wife,  and  the  swineherd  be- 
comes a  great  nobleman.  But  it  is  you,  Niafer, 
who  have  won  all  these  things  for  me  with  your 
cleverness,  and  to  me  it  seems  that  these  wonderful 
rewards  are  less  wonderful  than  my  dear  comrade." 

"But  you  too  are  very  wonderful,"  said  Niafer, 
loyally. 

Says  Manuel,  smiling  sadly:  "I  am  not  so 
wonderful  but  that  in  the  hour  of  my  triumph  I 
am  frightened  by  my  own  littleness.  Look  you, 
Niafer,  I  had  thought  I  would  be  changed  when  I 
had  become  a  famous  champion,  but  for  all  that  I 
stand  posturing  here  with  this  long  sword,  and  am 
master  of  the  hour  and  of  the  future,  I  remain  the 
boy  that  last  Thursday  was  tending  pigs.  I  was 
not  afraid  of  the  terrors  which  beset  me  on  my  way 
to  rescue  the  Count's  daughter,  but  of  the  Count* s 
daughter  herself  I  am  horribly  afraid.  Not  for 
worlds  would  I  be  left  alone  with  her.  No,  such 
fine  and  terrific  ladies  are  not  for  swineherds,  and 
it  is  another  sort  of  wife  that  I  desire." 

"Whom  then  do  you  desire  for  a  wife,"  says 
Niafer,  "if  not  the  loveliest  and  the  wealthiest  lady 
in  all  Rathgor  and  Lower  Targamon  ?" 


36  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Why,  I  desire  the  cleverest  and  dearest  and  most 
wonderful  creature  in  all  the  world/'  says  Manuel, 
— "whom  I  recollect  seeing  some  six  weeks  ago 
when  I  was  in  the  kitchen  at  Arnaye." 

"Ah,  ah!  it  might  be  arranged,  then.  But  who 
is  this  marvelous  woman?" 

Manuel  said,  "You  are  that  woman,  Niafer." 

Niafer  replied  nothing,  but  Niafer  smiled. 
Niafer  raised  one  shoulder  a  little,  rubbing  it  against 
Manuel's  broad  chest,  but  Niafer  still  kept  silence. 
So  the  two  young  people  regarded  each  other  for  a 
while,  not  speaking,  and  to  every  appearance  not 
valuing  Miramon  Lluagor  and  his  encompassing  en- 
chantments at  a  straw's  worth,  nor  valuing  anything 
save  each  other. 

"All  things  are  changed  for  me,"  says  Manuel, 
presently,  in  a  hushed  voice,  "and  for  the  rest  of 
time  I  live  in  a  world  wherein  Niafer  differs  from 
all  other  persons." 

"My  dearest,"  Niafer  replied,  "there  is  no  spar- 
kling queen  nor  polished  princess  anywhere  but  the 
woman's  heart  in  her  would  be  jumping  with  joy  to 
have  you  looking  at  her  twice,  and  I  am  only  a 
servant  girl !" 

"But  certainly,"  said  the  rasping  voice  of  Gisele, 
"Niafer  is  my  suitably  disguised  heathen  waiting- 
woman,  to  whom  my  husband  sent  a  dream  some 
while  ago,  with  instructions  to  join  me  here,  so  that 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  37 

I  might  have  somebody  to  look  after  my  things. 
So,  Niafer,  since  you  were  fetched  to  wait  on  me, 
do  you  stop  pawing  at  that  young  pig-tender,  and 
tell  me  what  is  this  I  hear  about  your  remarkable 
cleverness." 

Instead,  it  was  Manuel  who  proudly  told  of  the 
shrewd  devices  through  which  Niafer  had  passed 
the  serpents  and  the  other  terrors  of  sleep.  And 
the  while  that  the  tall  boy  was  boasting,  Miramon 
Lluagor  smiled,  and  Gisele  looked  very  hard  at 
Niafer:  for  Miramon  and  his  wife  both  knew  that 
the  cleverness  of  Niafer  was  as  far  to  seek  as  her 
good  looks,  and  that  the  dream  which  Miramon  had 
sent  had  carefully  instructed  Niafer  as  to  these 
devices. 

"Therefore,  Madame  Gisele,"  says  Manuel,  in 
conclusion,  "I  will  give  you  Flamberge,  and 
Miramon  and  Vraidex,  and  all  the  rest  of  earth  to 
boot,  in  exchange  for  the  most  wonderful  and 
clever  woman  in  the  world." 

And  with  a  flourish,  Manuel  handed  over  the 
charmed  sword  Flamberge  to  the  Count's  lovely 
daughter,  and  he  took  the  hand  of  the  swart,  flat- 
faced  servant  girl. 

"Come  now,"  says  Miramon,  in  a  sad  flurry,  "this 
is  an  imposing  performance.  I  need  not  say  it 
arouses  in  me  the  most  delightful  sort  of  surprise 
and  all  other  appropriate  emotions.  But  as  touches 


38  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

your  own  interests,  Manuel,  do  you  think  your  be- 
havior is  quite  sensible?" 

Tall  Manuel  looked  down  upon  him  with  a  sort 
of  scornful  pity.  "Yes,  Miramon:  for  I  am 
Manuel,  and  I  follow  after  my  own  thinking  and 
my  own  desire.  Of  course  it  is  very  fine  of  me  to 
be  renouncing  so  much  wealth  and  power  for  the 
sake  of  my  wonderful  dear  Niafer :  but  she  is  well 
worth  the  sacrifice,  and,  besides,  she  is  witnessing 
all  this  magnanimity,  and  cannot  well  fail  to  be 
impressed." 

Niafer  was  of  course  reflecting:  "This  is  very 
foolish  and  dear  of  him,  and  I  shall  be  compelled, 
in  mere  decency,  to  pretend  to  corresponding 
lunacies  for  the  first  month  or  so  of  our  marriage. 
After  that,  I  hope,  we  will  settle  down  to  some  more 
reasonable  way  of  living." 

Meanwhile  she  regarded  Manuel  fondly,  and 
quite  as  though  she  considered  him  to  be  displaying 
unusual  intelligence. 

But  Gisele  and  Miramon  were  looking  at  each 
other,  and  wondering :  "What  can  the  long-legged 
boy  see  in  this  stupid  and  plain- featured  girl  who 
is  years  oJder  than  he  ?  or  she  in  the  young  swagger- 
ing ragged  fool  ?  And  how  much  wiser  and  happier 
is  our  marriage  than,  in  any  event,  the  average 
marriage !" 

So  did  they  consider  the  appearance  of  the  thing, 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  39 

and  so  came  to  them  the  staggering  thought  which 
holds  together  so  many  couples  in  the  teeth  of 
human  nature. 

Miramon,  for  one,  was  so  deeply  moved  by  this 
awful  reflection  that  he  patted  his  wife's  hand. 
Then  he  sighed.  "Love  has  conquered  my  de- 
signs," said  Miramon,  oracularly,  "and  the  secret  of 
a  contented  marriage,  after  all,  is  to  pay  particular 
attention  to  the  wives  of  everybody  else." 

Gisele  exhorted  him  not  to  be  a  fool,  but  she 
spoke  without  acerbity,  and,  speaking,  she  squeezed 
his  hand.  She  understood  this  potent  wizard  more 
thoroughly  than  she  intended  ever  to  permit  him  to 
suspect. 

Whereafter  Miramon  wiped  the  heavenly  bodies 
from  the  firmament,  and  set  a  miraculous  rainbow 
there,  and  under  its  arch  was  enacted  for  the  swine- 
herd and  the  waiting  woman  such  a  betrothal 
masque  of  fantasies  and  illusions  as  gave  full  scope 
to  the  art  of  Miramon,  and  delighted  everybody,  but 
delighted  Miramon  in  particular.  The  dragon  that 
guards  hidden  treasure  made  sport  for  them,  the 
naiads  danced,  and  cherubim  fluttered  about  singing 
very  sweetly  and  asking  droll  conundrums.  Then 
they  feasted,  with  unearthly  servitors  to  attend 
them,  and  did  all  else  appropriate  to  an  affiancing 
of  deities.  And  when  these  junketings  were  over, 
Manuel  said  that,  since  it  seemed  he  was  not  to  be 


40  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

a  wealthy  nobleman  after  all,  he  and  Niafer  must 
be  getting,  first  to  the  nearest  priest's,  and  then  back 
to  the  pigs. 

"I  am  not  so  sure  that  you  can  manage  it,"  said 
Miramon,  "for  while  the  ascent  of  Vraidex  is  in- 
commoded by  serpents,  the  quitting  of  Vraidex  is 
very  apt  to  be  hindered  by  death  and  fate.  For  I 
must  tell  you  I  have  a  rather  arbitrary  brother,  who 
is  one  of  those  dreadful  Realists,  without  a  scrap 
of  aesthetic  feeling,  and  there  is  no  controlling  him.'* 

"Well,"  Manuel  considered,  "one  cannot  live  for- 
ever among  dreams,  and  death  and  fate  must  be 
encountered  by  all  men.  So  we  can  but  try." 

Now  for  a  while  the  sombre  eyes  of  Miramon 
Lluagor  appraised  them,  and  the  wizard  gave  a  little 
sigh,  for  he  knew  that  these  young  people  were 
enviable  and  in  the  outcome  unimportant. 

So  Miramon  said,  "Then  do  you  go  your  way, 
and  if  you  do  not  encounter  the  author  and  de- 
stroyer of  us  all  it  will  be  well  for  you,  and  if  you 
do  encounter  him  that  too  will  be  well  in  that  it  is 
his  wish." 

"I  neither  seek  nor  avoid  him,"  Manuel  replied. 
"I  only  know  that  I  must  follow  after  my  own 
thinking,  and  after  a  desire  which  is  not  to  be 
satisfied  with  dreams,  even  though  they  be" — the 
boy  appeared  to  search  for  a  comparison,  then, 


THE  DOUBTFUL  PALACE  41 

smiling,   said, — -"as   resplendent  as   rubies   of   the 
Orient." 

Thereafter  Manuel  bid  farewell  to  Miramon  and 
Miramon's  fine  wife,  and  Manuel  descended  from 
marvelous  Vraidex  with  his  plain-featured  Niafer, 
quite  contentedly.  For  happiness  went  with  them, 
if  for  no  great  way. 


5- 

The  Eternal  Ambuscade 


MANUEL  and  Niafer  came  down  from 
Vraidex  without  hindrance.  There  was 
no  happier  nor  more  devoted  lover  any- 
where than  young  Manuel. 

"For  we  will  be  married  out  of  hand,  dear  snip," 
he  says,  "and  you  will  help  me  to  discharge  my 
geas,  and  afterward  we  will  travel  everywhither 
and  into  the  last  limits  of  earth,  so  that  we  may  see 
the  ends  of  this  world  and  may  judge  them." 

"Perhaps  we  had  better  wait  until  next  spring, 
when  the  roads  will  be  better,  Manuel,  but  certainly 
we  will  be  married  out  of  hand." 

In  earnest  of  this,  Niafer  permitted  Manuel  to 
kiss  her  again,  and  young  Manuel  said,  for  the 
twenty-second  time,  "There  is  nowhere  any  hap- 
piness like  my  happiness,  nor  any  love  like  my 
love." 

Thus  speaking,  and  thus  disporting  themselves, 
they  came  leisurely  to  the  base  of  the  gray  moun- 
tain and  to  the  old  maple-trees,  under  which  they 
found  two  persons  waiting.  One  was  a  tall  man 
mounted  on  a  white  horse,  and  leading  a  riderless 

42 


THE  OLD  AMBUSCADE  43 

black  horse.  His  hat  was  pulled  down  about  his 
head  so  that  his  face  could  not  be  clearly  seen. 

Now  the  companion  that  was  with  him  had  the 
appearance  of  a  bare-headed  youngster,  with  dark 
red  hair,  and  his  face  too  was  hidden  as  he  sat  by 
the  roadway  trimming  his  long  finger-nails  with  a 
small  green-handled  knife. 

"Hail,  friends,"  said  Manuel,  "and  for  whom  are 
you  waiting  here?'* 

"I  wait  for  one  to  ride  on  this  black  horse  of 
mine,"  replied  the  mounted  stranger.  "It  was  de- 
creed that  the  first  person  who  passed  this  way  must 
be  his  rider,  but  you  two  come  abreast.  So  do  you 
choose  between  you  which  one  rides/' 

"Well,  but  it  is  a  fine  steed  surely,"  Manuel  said, 
"and  a  steed  fit  for  Charlemagne  or  Hector  or  any 
of  the  famous  champions  of  the  old  time." 

"Each  one  of  them  has  ridden  upon  this  black 
horse  of  mine,"  replied  the  stranger. 

Niafer  said,  "I  am  frightened."  And  above 
them  a  furtive  wind  began  to  rustle  in  the  torn,  dis- 
colored maple-leaves. 

" — For  it  is  a  fine  steed  and  an  old  steed,"  the 
stranger  went  on,  "and  a  tireless  steed  that  bears  all 
away.  It  has  the  fault,  some  say,  that  its  riders  do 
not  return,  but  there  is  no  pleasing  everybody." 

"Friend,"  Manuel  said,  in  a  changed  voice,  "who 
are  you,  and  what  is  your  name?" 


44  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"I  am  brother  to  Miramon  Lluagor,  lord  of  the 
nine  sleeps,  but  I  am  lord  of  another  kind  of  sleep- 
ing; and  as  for  my  name,  it  is  the  name  that  is  in 
your  thoughts,  and  the  name  which  most  troubles 
you,  and  the  name  which  you  think  about  most 
often." 

There  was  silence.  Manuel  worked  his  lips 
foolishly.  "I  wish  we  had  not  walked  abreast,"  he 
said.  "I  would  we  had  remained  among  the  bright 
dreams." 

"All  persons  voice  some  regret  or  another  at 
meeting  me.  And  it  does  not  ever  matter." 

"But  if  there  were  no  choosing  in  the  affair,  I 
could  make  shift  to  endure  it,  either  way.  Now 
one  of  us,  you  tell  me,  must  depart  with  you.  If 
I  say,  'Let  Niafer  be  that  one/  I  must  always  re- 
call that  saying  with  self-loathing." 

"But  I  too  say  it !"  Niafer  was  petting  him  and 
trembling. 

"Besides,"  observed  the  rider  of  the 'white  horse, 
"you  have  a  choice  of  sayings." 

"The  other  saying,"  Manuel  replied,  "I  cannot 
utter.  Yet  I  wish  I  were  not  forced  to  confess  this. 
It  sounds  badly.  At  all  events,  I  love  Niafer  better 
than  I  love  any  other  person,  but  I  do  not  value 
Niafer's  life  more  highly  than  I  value  my  life,  and 
it  would  be  nonsense  to  say  so.  No,  my  life  is 
very  necessary  to  me,  and  there  is  a  geas  upon  me 


THE  OLD  AMBUSCADE  45 

to  make  a  figure  in  this  world  before  I  leave  it." 

"My  dearest,"  says  Niafer,  "you  have  chosen 
wisely." 

The  veiled  horseman  said  nothing  at  all.  But 
he  took  off  his  hat,  and  the  beholders  shuddered. 
The  kinship  to  Miramon  was  apparent,  you  could 
see  the  resemblance,  but  they  had  never  seen  in 
Miramon  Lluagor's  face  what  they  saw  here. 

Then  Niafer  bade  farewell  to  Manuel  with  pitiable 
whispered  words.  They  kissed.  Thereafter  Man- 
uel, very  sick  and  desperate  looking,  did  what  was 
requisite.  So  Niafer  went  away  with  Grandfather 
Death,  in  Manuel's  stead. 

"My  heart  cracks  in  me  now,"  says  Manuel, 
forlornly  considering  his  hands,  "but  better  she  than 
I.  Still,  this  is  a  poor  beginning  in  life,  for  yester- 
day great  wealth  and  to-day  great  love  was  within 
my  reach,  and  now  I  have  lost  both." 

"But  you  did  not  go  the  right  way  about  to  win 
success  in  anything,"  says  the  remaining  stranger. 

And  now  this  other  stranger  arose  from  the 
trimming  of  his  long  finger-nails ;  and  you  could  see 
this  was  a  tall,  lean  youngster  (though  not  so  tall 
as  Manuel,  and  nothing  like  so  stalwart),  with 
ruddy  cheeks,  wide-set  brown  eyes,  and  crinkling, 
rather  dark  red  hair. 

Then  Manuel  rubbed  his  wet  hands  as  clean  as 
might  be,  and  this  boy  walked  on  a  little  way  with 


46  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Manuel,  talking  of  that  which  had  been  and  of 
some  things  which  were  to  be.  And  Manuel  said, 
"Now  assuredly,  Horvendile,  since  that  is  your 
name,  such  talking  is  insane  talking,  and  no  com- 
fort whatever  to  me  in  my  grief  at  losing  Niafer." 

"This  is  but  the  beginning  of  your  losses,  Man- 
uel, for  I  think  that  a  little  by  a  little  you  will 
lose  everything  which  is  desirable,  until  you  shall 
have  remaining  at  the  last  only  a  satiation  and  a 
weariness  and  an  uneasy  loathing  of  all  that  the 
human  wisdom  of  your  elders  shall  have  induced 
you  to  procure." 

"But,  Horvendile,  can  anybody  foretell  the 
future  ?  Or  can  it  be  that  Miramon  spoke  seriously 
in  saying  that  fate  also  was  enleagued  to  forbid 
the  leaving  of  this  mountain  ?" 

"No,  Manuel,  I  do  not  say  that  I  am  fate  nor 
any  of  the  Leshy,  but  rather  it  seems  to  me  that 
I  am  insane.  So  perhaps  the  less  attention  you  pay 
to  my  talking  the  better.  For  I  must  tell  you  that 
this  wasted  country  side,  this  mountain,  this  road, 
and  these  old  maples,  and  that  rock  yonder,  appear 
to  me  to  be  things  I  have  imagined :  and  that  you, 
and  the  Niafer  whom  you  have  just  disposed  of  so 
untidily,  and  Miramon  and  his  fair  shrew,  and  all 
of  you,  appear  to  me  to  be  persons  I  have  imagined : 
and  all  the  living  in  this  world  appears  to  me  to  be 
only  a  notion  of  mine." 


THE  OLD  AMBUSCADE  47 

"Why,  then,  certainly  I  would  say,  or  rather,  I 
would  think  it  unnecessary  to  say,  that  you  are  in- 
sane." 

"You  speak  without  hesitation,  and  it  is  through 
your  ability  to  settle  such  whimseys  out  of  hand 
that  you  will  yet  win,  it  may  be,  to  success." 

"Yes,  but,"  asked  Manuel,  slowly,  "what  is  suc- 
cess?" 

"In  your  deep  mind,  I  think,  that  question  is  al- 
ready answered." 

"Undoubtedly  I  have  my  notion,  but  it  was  about 
your  notion  I  was  asking." 

Horvendile  looked  grave,  and  yet  whimsical  too. 
"Why,  I  have  heard  somewhere,"  says  he,  "that  at 
its  uttermost  this  success  is  but  the  strivings  of  an 
ape  reft  of  his  tail,  and  grown  rusty  at  climbing, 
who  yet  feels  himself  to  be  a  symbol  and  the  frail 
representative  of  Omnipotence  in  a  place  that  is  not 
home." 

Manuel  appeared  to  reserve  judgment.  "How 
does  the  successful  ape  employ  himself,  in  these  not 
quite  friendly  places  ?" 

"He  strives  blunderingly,  from  mystery  to  mys- 
tery, with  pathetic  makeshifts,  not  understanding 
anything,  greedy  in  all  desires,  and  honeycombed 
with  poltroonery,  and  yet  ready  to  give  all,  and  to 
die  fighting  for  the  sake  of  that  undemonstrable 
idea,  about  his  being  Heaven's  vicar  and  heir." 


48  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Manuel  shook  his  small  bright  head.  "You  use 
too  many  long  words.  But  so  far  as  I  can  under- 
stand you,  that  is  not  the  sort  of  success  I  want. 
No,  I  am  Manuel,  and  I  must  follow  after  my  own 
thinking  and  my  own  desire,  without  considering 
other  people  and  their  notions  of  success." 

"As  for  denying  yourself  consideration  for  other 
people,  I  am  of  the  opinion,  after  witnessing  your 
recent  disposal  of  your  sweetheart,  that  you  are  al- 
ready tolerably  expert  in  that  sort  of  abnegation." 

"Hah,  but  you  do  not  know  what  is  seething 
here/'  replied  Manuel,  smiting  his  broad  chest. 
"And  I  shall  not  tell  you  of  it,  Horvendile,  since 
you  are  not  fate  nor  any  of  the  Leshy,  to  give  me 
my  desire." 

"What  would  be  your  desire?" 

"My  wish  would  be  for  me  always  to  obtain 
whatever  I  may  wish  for.  Yes,  Horvendile,  I  have 
often  wondered  why,  in  the  old  legends,  when  three 
wishes  were  being  offered,  nobody  ever  made  that 
sensible  and  economical  wish  the  first  of  all." 

"What  need  is  there  to  trouble  the  Leshy  about 
that  foolish  wish  when  it  is  always  possible,  at  a 
paid  price,  to  obtain  whatever  one  desires?  You 
have  but  to  go  about  it  in  this  way."  And  Hor- 
vendile told  Manuel  a  queer  and  dangerous  thing. 
Then  Horvendile  said  sadly :  "So  much  knowledge 
I  can  deny  nobody  at  Michaelmas.  But  I  must  tell 


THE  OLD  AMBUSCADE  49 

you  the  price  also,  and  it  is  that  with  the  achieving 
of  each  desire  you  will  perceive  its  worth." 

Thus  speaking,  Horvendile  parted  the  thicket  be- 
side the  roadway.  A  beautiful  dusk-colored  woman 
waited  there,  in  a  green-blue  robe,  and  on  her  head 
was  a  blue  coronet  surmounted  with  green  feathers : 
she  carried  a  vase.  Horvendile  stepped  forward, 
and  the  thicket  closed  behind  him,  concealing  Hor- 
vendile and  this  woman. 

Manuel,  looking  puzzled,  went  on  a  little  way, 
and  when  he  was  assured  of  being  alone  he  flung 
himself  face  downward  and  wept.  The  reason  of 
this  was,  they  relate,  that  young  Manuel  had  loved 
Niafer  as  he  could  love  nobody  else.  Then  he 
arose,  and  went  toward  the  pool  of  Haranton,  on 
his  way  homeward,  after  having  failed  in  every- 
thing. 


6. 

Economics  of  Math 


WHAT  forthwith  happened  at  the  pool  of 
Haranton  is  not  nicely  adapted  to  exact 
description,  but  it  was  sufficiently  curious 
to  give  Manuel's  thoughts  a  new  turn,  although 
it  did  not  seem,   even  so,   to  make  them  happy 
thoughts.     Certainly  it  was  not  with  any  appear- 
ance of  merriment  that  Manuel  returned  to  his 
sister  Math,  who  was  the  miller's  wife. 

"And  wherever  have  you  been  all  this  week?" 
says  Math,  "with  the  pigs  rooting  all  over  creation, 
and  with  that  man  of  mine  forever  flinging  your 
worthlessness  in  my  face,  and  with  that  red-haired 
Suskind  coming  out  of  the  twilight  a-seeking  after 
you  every  evening  and  pestering  me  with  her  soft 
lamentations?  And  for  the  matter  of  that,  what- 
ever are  you  glooming  over?" 

"I  have  cause,  and  cause  to  spare." 

Manuel  told  her  of  his  adventures  upon  Vraidex, 
and  Math  said  that  showed  what  came  of  neglecting 
his  proper  business,  which  was  attendance  on  her 
husband's  pigs.  Manuel  then  told  her  of  what  had 
just  befallen  by  the  pool  of  Haranton. 

SO 


ECONOMICS  OF  MATH  51 

Math  nodded.  "Take  shame  to  yourself,  young 
rascal,  with  your  Niafer  hardly  settled  down  in 
paradise,  and  with  your  Suskind  wailing  for  you  in 
the  twilight !  But  that  would  be  Alianora  the  Unat- 
tainable Princess.  Thus  she  comes  across  the  Bay 
of  Biscay,  traveling  from  the  far  land  of  Provence, 
in,  they  say,  the  appearance  of  a  swan :  and  thus  she 
bathes  in  the  pool  wherein  strange  dreams  engender : 
and  thus  she  slips  into  the  robe  of  the  Apsarasas 
when  it  is  high  time  to  be  leaving  such  impudent 
knaves  as  you  have  proved  yourself  to  be." 

"Yes,  yes!  a  shift  made  all  of  shining  white 
feathers,  Sister.  Here  is  a  feather  that  was  broken 
from  it  as  I  clutched  at  her." 

Math  turned  the  feather  in  her  hand.  "Now  to 
be  sure !  and  did  you  ever  see  the  like  of  it !  Still, 
a  broken  feather  is  no  good  to  anybody,  and,  as 
I  have  told  you  any  number  of  times,  I  cannot  have 
trash  littering  up  my  kitchen." 

So  Math  dropped  this  shining  white  feather  into 
the  fire,  on  which  she  was  warming  over  a  pot  of 
soup  for  Manuel^s  dinner,  and  they  watched  this 
feather  burn. 

Manuel  says,  sighing,  "Even  so  my  days  consume, 
and  my  youth  goes  out  of  me,  in  a  land  wherein 
Suskind  whispers  of  uncomfortable  things,  and 
wherein  there  are  no  maids  so  clever  and  dear  as 
Niafer,  nor  so  lovely  as  Alianora." 


52  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Math  said:  "I  never  held  with  speaking  ill  of 
the  dead.  So  may  luck  and  fair  words  go  with 
your  Niafer  in  her  pagan  paradise.  Of  your  Sus- 
kind  too" — Math  crossed  herself — "the  less  said  the 
better.  But  as  for  your  Alianora,  no  really  nice 
girl  would  be  flying  in  the  face  of  heaven  and  show- 
ing her  ankles  to  five  nations,  and  bathing,  on  a 
Monday  too,  in  places  where  almost  anybody  might 
come  along.  It  is  not  proper,  and  I  wonder  at  her 
parents." 

"But,  Sister,  she  is  a  princess !" 

"Just  so :  therefore  I  burned  the  feather,  because 
it  is  not  wholesome  for  persons  of  our  station  in 
life  to  be  robbing  princesses  of  anything,  though  it 
be  only  of  a  feather." 

"Sister,  that  is  the  truth!  It  is  not  right  to 
rob  anybody  of  anything,  and  this  would  appear 
to  make  another  bond  upon  me  and  another  obliga- 
tion to  be  discharged,  because  in  taking  that  feather 
I  have  taken  what  did  not  belong  to  me." 

"Boy,  do  not  think  you  are  fooling  me,  for  when 
your  face  gets  that  look  on  it  I  know  you  are  con- 
sidering some  nonsense  over  and  above  the  non- 
sense you  are  talking.  However,  from  your  de- 
scription of  the  affair,  I  do  not  doubt  that  gallivant- 
ing, stark-naked  princess  thought  you  were  for  tak- 
ing what  did  not  belong  to  you.  Therefore  I 
burned  the  feather,  lest  it  be  recognized  and  bring 


ECONOMICS  OF  MATH  53 

you  to  the  gallows  or  to  a  worse  place.  So  why 
did  you  not  scrape  your  feet  before  coming  into 
my  clean  kitchen?  and  how  many  times  do  you  ex- 
pect me  to  speak  to  you  about  that?" 

Manuel  said  nothing.  But  he  seemed  to  meditate 
over  something  that  puzzled  him.  In  the  upshot 
he  went  into  the  miller's  chicken-yard,  and  caught 
a  goose,  and  plucked  from  its  wing  a  feather. 

Then  Manuel  put  on  his  Sunday  clothes. 

"Far  too  good  for  you  to  be  traveling  in,"  said 
Math. 

Manuel  looked  down  at  his  half-sister,  and  once 
or  twice  he  blinked  those  shining  strange  eyes  of 
his.  "Sister,  if  I  had  been  properly  dressed  when 
I  was  master  of  the  doubtful  palace,  the  Lady 
Gisele  would  have  taken  me  quite  seriously.  I 
have  been  thinking  about  her  observations  as  to  my 
elbows." 

"The  coat  does  not  make  the  man,"  replied  Math 
piously. 

"It  is  your  belief  in  any  such  saying  that  has 
made  a  miller's  wife  of  you,  and  will  keep  you  a 
miller's  wife  until  the  end  of  time.  Now  I  learned 
better  from  my  misadventures  upon  Vraidex,  and 
from  my  talking  with  that  insane  Horvendile  about 
the  things  which  have  been  and  some  things  which 
are  to  be." 

Math,  who  was  a  wise  woman,  said  queerly,  "I 


54  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

perceive    that   you   are    letting  your   hair   grow." 

Manuel  said,  "Yes." 

"Boy,  fast  and  loose  is  a  mischancy  game  to 
play." 

"And  being  born,  also,  is  a  most  hazardous  specu- 
lation, Sister,  yet  we  perforce  risk  all  upon  that 
cast." 

"Now  you  talk  stuff  and  nonsense — " 

"Yes,  Sister,  but  I  begin  to  suspect  that  the  right 
sort  of  stuff  and  nonsense  is  not  unremunerative. 
I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  shall  afford  my  notion  a 
testing." 

"And  after  what  shiftless  idiocy  will  you  be 
chasing  now,  to  neglect  your  work?" 

"Why,  as  always,  Sister,  I  must  follow  my  own 
thinking  and  my  own  desire,"  says  Manuel,  lordlily, 
"and  both  of  these  are  for  a  flight  above  pigs." 

Thereafter  Manuel  kissed  Math,  and,  again  with- 
out taking  leave  of  Suskind  in  the  twilight  or  of 
anyone  else,  he  set  forth  for  the  far  land  of 
Provence. 


7- 

The  Crown  of  Wisdom 


SO  did  it  come  about  that  as  King  Helmas  rode 
a-hunting  in  Nevet  under  the  Hunter's  Moon 
he  came  upon  a   gigantic  and  florid  young 
fellow,  who  was  very  decently  clad  in  black,  and  had 
a  queer  droop  to  his  left  eye,  and  who  appeared  to 
be  wandering  at  adventure  in  the  autumn  woods : 
and  the  King  remembered  what  had  been  foretold. 

Says  King  Helmas  to  Manuel  the  swineherd, 
"What  is  that  I  see  in  your  pocket  wrapped  in  red 
silk?" 

"It  is  a  feather,  King,  wrapped  in  a  bit  of  my 
sister's  best  petticoat." 

"Now,  glory  be  to  your  dark  magics,  friend,  and 
at  what  price  will  you  sell  me  that  feather?" 

"But  a  feather  is  no  use  to  anybody,  King,  for, 
as  you  see,  it  is  a  quite  ordinary  feather/' 

"Come,  come!"  the  King  says,  shrewdly,  "do 
people  anywhere  wrap  ordinary  feathers  in  red  silk  ? 
Friend,  do  not  think  to  deceive  King  Helmas  of 
Albania,  or  it  will  be  the  worse  for  you.  I  per- 
fectly recognize  that  shining  white  feather  as  the 
feather  which  was  moulted  in  this  forest  by  the 

55 


56  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Zhar-Ptitza  Bird,  in  the  old  time  before  my  grand- 
fathers came  into  this  country.  For  it  was  fore- 
told that  such  a  young  sorcerer  as  you  would  bring 
to  me,  who  have  long  been  the  silliest  King  that 
ever  reigned  over  the  Peohtes,  this  feather  which 
confers  upon  its  owner  perfect  wisdom :  and  for 
you  to  dispute  the  prophecy  would  be  blasphemous/' 

"I  do  not  dispute  your  silliness,  King  Helmas, 
nor  do  I  dispute  anybody's  prophecies  in  a  world 
wherein  nothing  is  certain." 

"One  thing  at  least  is  certain,"  remarked  King 
Helmas,  frowning  uglily,  "and  it  is  that  among  the 
Peohtes  all  persons  who  dispute  our  prophecies  are 
burned  at  the  stake." 

Manuel  shivered  slightly,  and  said :  "It  seems 
to  me  a  quite  ordinary  feather:  but  your  prophets 
— most  deservedly,  no  doubt — are  in  higher  repute 
for  wisdom  than  I  am,  and  burning  is  a  discom- 
fortable  death.  So  I  recall  what  a  madman  told 
me,  and,  since  you  are  assured  that  this  is  the  Zhar- 
Ptitza's  feather,  I  will  sell  it  to  you  for  ten  sequins." 

King  Helmas  shook  a  disapproving  face.  "That 
will  not  do  at  all,  and  your  price  is  out  of  reason, 
because  it  was  foretold  that  for  this  feather  you 
would  ask  ten  thousand  sequins." 

"Well,  I  am  particularly  desirous  not  to  appear 
irreligious  now  that  I  have  become  a  young  sorcerer. 


THE  CROWN  OF  WISDOM  57 

So  you  may  have  the  feather  at  your  own  price, 
rather  than  let  the  prophecies  remain  unfulfilled." 

Then  Manuel  rode  pillion  with  a  king  who  was 
unwilling  to  let  Manuel  out  of  his  sight,  and  they 
went  thus  to  Brunbelois  and  to  the  vine-cpvered 
palace  of  King  Helmas.  They  came  to  two  doors 
with  pointed  arches,  set  side  by  side,  the  smaller 
being  for  foot  passengers,  and  the  other  for  horse- 
men. Above  was  an  equestrian  statue  in  a  niche, 
and  a  great  painted  window  with  traceries  of  hearts 
and  thistles. 

They  entered  the  larger  door,  and  that  afternoon 
twelve  heralds,  in  bright  red  tabards  that  were  em- 
broidered with  golden  thistles,  rode  out  of  this  door, 
to  proclaim  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  as  to  the 
Zhar-Ptitza's  feather,  and  that  afternoon  the  priests 
of  the  Peohtes  gave  thanks  in  all  their  curious 
underground  temples.  The  common  people,  who 
had  for  the  last  score  of  years  taken  shame  to  them- 
selves for  living  under  such  a  foolish  king,  em- 
braced one  another,  and  danced,  and  sang  patriotic 
songs  at  every  street-corner:  the  Lower  Council 
met,  and  voted  that  out  of  deference  to  his  majesty 
All  Fools'  Day  should  be  stricken  from  the  calen- 
dar: and  Queen  Pressina  (one  of  the  water  folk) 
declared  there  were  two  ways  of  looking  at  every- 
thing, the  while  that  she  burned  a  quantity  of 


58  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

private  papers.  Then  at  night  were  fireworks,  the 
King  made  a  speech,  and  to  Manuel  was  paid  ten 
thousand  sequins. 

Thereafter  Manuel  abode  for  a  month  at  the 
court  of  King  Helmas,  noting  whatever  to  this  side 
and  to  that  side  seemed  most  notable.  Manuel  was 
well  liked  by  the  nobility,  and  when  the  barons  and 
the  fine  ladies  assembled  in  the  evening  for  pavanes 
and  branles  and  pazzamenos  nobody  danced  more 
statelily  than  Messire  Manuel.  He  had  a  quiet  way 
with  the  ladies,  and  with  the  barons  a  way  of 
simplicity  which  was  vastly  admired  in  a  sorcerer  so 
potent  that  his  magic  had  secured  the  long  sought 
Zhar-Ptitza's  feather.  "But  the  most  learned,"  as 
King  Helmas  justly  said,  "are  always  the  most 
modest." 

Helmas  now  wore  the  feather  from  the  wing  of 
the  miller's  goose  affixed  to  the  front  of  Helmas1 
second  best  crown,  because  that  was  the  one  he 
used  to  give  judgments  in.  And  when  it  was  noised 
abroad  that  King  Helmas  had  the  Zhar-Ptitza's 
feather,  the  Peohtes  came  gladly  to  be  judged,  and 
the  neighboring  kings  began  to  submit  to  him  their 
more  difficult  cases,  and  all  his  judgings  were  re- 
ceived with  reverence,  because  everybody  knew  that 
King  Helmas'  wisdom  was  now  infallible,  and  that 
to  criticize  his  verdict  as  to  anything  was  merely 
to  expose  your  own  stupidity. 


THE  CROWN  OF  WISDOM  59 

And  now  that  doubt  of  himself  had  gone  out  of 
his  mind,  Helmas  lived  untroubled,  and  his  diges- 
tion improved,  and  his  loving-kindness  was  infinite, 
because  he  could  not  be  angry  with  the  pitiable 
creatures  haled  before  him,  when  he  considered  how 
little  able  they  were  to  distinguish  between  wis- 
dom and  unwisdom  where  Helmas  was  omniscient: 
and  all  his  doings  were  merciful  and  just,  and  his 
people  praised  him.  Even  the  Queen  conceded  that, 
once  you  were  accustomed  to  his  ways,  and  exer- 
cised some  firmness  about  being  made  a  doormat  of, 
and  had  it  understood  once  for  all  that  meals  could 
not  be  kept  waiting  for  him,  she  supposed  there 
might  be  women  worse  off. 

And  Manuel  got  clay  and  modeled  the  figure  of 
a  young  man  which  had  the  features  and  the  wise 
look  of  King  Helmas. 

"I  can  see  the  resemblance,"  the  King  said,  "but 
it  does  not  half  do  me  justice,  and,  besides,  why 
have  you  made  a  young  whipper-snapper  of  me, 
and  mixed  up  my  appearance  with  your  appear- 
ance?" 

"I  do  not  know,"  said  Manuel,  "but  I  suppose  it 
is  because  of  a  geas  which  is  upon  me  to  make  my- 
self a  splendid  and  admirable  young  man  in  every 
respect,  and  not  an  old  man." 

"And  does  the  sculpture  satisfy  you?"  asks  the 
King,  smiling  wisely. 


60  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No,  I  like  this  figure  well  enough,  now  it  is 
done,  but  it  is  not,  I  somehow  know,  the  figure  I 
desire  to  make.  No,  I  must  follow  after  my  own 
thinking  and  my  own  desire,  and  wisdom  is  not  re- 
quisite to  me." 

"You  artists!"  said  the  King,  as  people  always 
say  that.  "Now  I  would  consider  that,  for  all  the 
might  of  your  sorceries,  wisdom  is  rather  clamantly 
requisite  to  you,  Messire  Manuel,  who  inform  me 
you  must  soon  be  riding  hence  to  find  elsewhere  the 
needful  look  for  your  figure.  For  thus  to  be  rid- 
ing about  this  world  of  men,  in  search  of  a  shade  of 
expression,  and  without  even  being  certain  of  what 
look  you  are  looking  for,  does  not  appear  to  me  to 
be  good  sense." 

But  young  Manuel  replied  sturdily: 

"I  ride  to  encounter  what  life  has  in  store  for  me, 
who  am  made  certain  of  this  at  least,  that  all  high 
harvests  which  life  withholds  for  me  spring  from 
a  seed  which  I  sow — and  reap.  For  my  geas  is 
potent,  and,  late  or  soon,  I  serve  my  geas,  and  take 
my  doom  as  the  pay  well-earned  that  is  given  as 
pay  to  me,  for  the  figure  I  make  in  this  world  of 
men. 

"This  figure,  foreseen  and  yet  hidden  away  from 
me,  glimpsed  from  afar  in  the  light  of  a  dream, — 
will  I  love  it,  once  made,  or  will  loathing  awake 
in  me  after  its  visage  is  plainlier  seen  ?  No  matter : 


THE  CROWN  OF  WISDOM  61 

as  fate  says  so  say  I,  who  serve  my  geas  and  gain 
in  time  such  payment,  at  worst,  as  is  honestly  due 
to  me,  for  the  figure  I  make  in  this  world  of  men. 

"To  its  shaping  I  consecrate  youth  that  is  strong 
in  me,  ardently  yielding  youth's  last  least  gift,  who 
know  that  all  grace  which  the  gods  have  allotted  me 
avails  me  in  naught  if  it  fails  me  in  this.  For  all 
that  a  man  has,  that  must  I  bring  to  the  image  I 
shape,  that  my  making  may  live  when  time  un- 
makes me  and  death  dissevers  me  from  the  figure 
I  make  in  this  world  of  men." 

To  this  the  King  rather  drily  replied:  "There 
is  something  in  what  you  say.  But  that  something 
is,  I  can  assure  you,  not  wisdom." 

So  everyone  was  satisfied  in  Albania  except 
Manuel,  who  declared  that  he  was  pleased  but  not 
contented  by  the  image  he  had  made  in  the  likeness 
of  King  Helmas. 

"Besides,"  they  told  him,  "you  look  as  though 
your  mind  were  troubling  you  about  something." 

"In  fact,  I  am  puzzled  to  see  a  foolish  person 
made  wise  in  all  his  deeds  and  speeches  by  this 
wisdom  being  expected  of  him." 

"But  that  is  a  cause  for  rejoicing,  and  for  ap- 
plauding the  might  of  your  sorceries,  Messire 
Manuel,  whereas  you  are  plainly  thinking  of 
vexatious  matters." 

Manuel  replied,  "I  think  that  it  is  not  right  to 


62  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

rob  anybody  of  anything,  and  I  reflect  that  wisdom 
weighs  exactly  the  weight  of  a  feather." 

Then  Manuel  went  into  King  Helmas'  chicken- 
yard,  and  caught  a  goose,  and  plucked  from  its  wing 
a  feather.  Manuel  went  glitteringly  now,  in  bro- 
caded hose,  and  with  gold  spurs  on  his  heels:  the 
figure  which  he  had  made  in  the  likeness  of  King 
Helmas  was  packed  in  an  expensive  knapsack  of 
ornamented  leather,  and  tall  shining  Manuel  rode 
on  a  tall  dappled  horse  when  he  departed  south- 
ward, for  Manuel  nowadays  had  money  to  spare. 


8. 

The  Halo  of  Holiness 


NOW   Manuel  takes  ship  across  the   fretful 
Bay   of    Biscay,    traveling   always    toward 
Provence  and  Alianora,  whom  people  called 
the  Unattainable  Princess.     Oriander  the  Swimmer 
followed  this  ship,  they  say,  but  he  attempted  to  do 
Manuel  no  hurt  for  that  turn. 

So  Manuel  of  the  high  head  comes  into  the  coun- 
try of  wicked  King  Ferdinand,  and,  toward  All- 
Hallows,  they  bring  a  stupendous  florid  young  man 
to  the  King  in  the  torture-chamber.  King  Ferdi- 
nand was  not  idle  at  the  moment,  and  he  looked  up 
good-temperedly  enough  from  his  employment:  but 
almost  instantly  his  merry  face  was  overcast. 

"Dear  me!"  says  Ferdinand,  as  he  dropped  his 
white  hot  pincers  sizzlingly  into  a  jar  of  water, 
"and  I  had  hoped  you  would  not  be  bothering  me 
for  a  good  ten  years!" 

"Now  if  I  bother  you  at  all  it  is  against  my  will," 
declared  Manuel,  very  politely,  "nor  do  I  willingly 
intrude  upon  you  here,  for,  without  criticizing  any- 
body's domestic  arrangements,  there  are  one  or  two 

63 


64  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

things  that  I  do  not  fancy  the  looks  of  in  this  tor- 
ture-chamber." 

"That  is  as  it  may  be.  In  the  mean  time,  what 
is  that  I  see  in  your  pocket  wrapped  in  red  silk  ?" 

"It  is  a  feather,  King,  wrapped  in  a  bit  of  my 
sister's  best  petticoat." 

Then  Ferdinand  sighed,  and  he  arose  from  his 
interesting  experiments  with  what  was  left  of  the 
Marquess  de  Henestrosa,  to  whom  the  King  had 
taken  a  sudden  dislike  that  morning. 

"Tut,  tut !"  said  Ferdinand :  "yet,  after  all,  I  have 
had  a  brave  time  of  it,  with  my  enormities  and  my 
iniquities,  and  it  is  not  as  though  there  were  nothing 
to  look  back  on!  So  at  what  price  will  you  sell 
me  that  feather?" 

"But  surely  a  feather  is  no  use  to  anybody,  King, 
for  does  it  not  seem  to  you  a  quite  ordinary 
feather?" 

"Come!"  says  King  Ferdinand,  as  he  washed  his 
hands,  "do  people  anywhere  wrap  ordinary  feathers 
in  red  silk?  You  squinting  rascal,  do  not  think  to 
swindle  me  out  of  eternal  bliss  by  any  such  foolish 
talk!  I  perfectly  recognize  that  feather  as  the 
feather  which  Milcah  plucked  from  the  left  pinion 
of  the  Archangel  Oriphiel  when  the  sons  of  God 
were  on  more  intricate  and  scandalous  terms  with 
the  daughters  of  men  than  are  permitted  nowa- 
days." 


A  HALO  FOR  HOLINESS  65 

"Well,  sir/'  replied  Manuel,  "you  may  be  right 
in  a  world  wherein  nothing  is  certain.  At  all 
events,  I  have  deduced,  from  one  or  two  things  in 
this  torture-chamber,  that  it  is  better  not  to  argue 
with  King  Ferdinand." 

"How  can  I  help  being  right,  when  it  was  fore- 
told long  ago  that  such  a  divine  emissary  as  you 
would  bring  this  very  holy  relic  to  turn  me  from  my 
sins  and  make  a  saint  of  me?"  says  Ferdinand, 
peevishly. 

"It  appears  to  me  a  quite  ordinary  feather,  King : 
but  I  recall  what  a  madman  told  me,  and  I  do  not 
dispute  that  your  prophets  are  wiser  than  I,  for 
I  have  been  a  divine  emissary  for  only  a  short 
while." 

"Do  you  name  your  price  for  this  feather,  then !" 

"I  think  it  would  be  more  respectful,  sir,  to  refer 
you  to  the  prophets,  for  I  find  them  generous  and 
big-hearted  creatures." 

Ferdinand  nodded  his  approval.  "That  is  very 
piously  spoken,  because  it  was  prophesied  that  this 
relic  would  be  given  me  for  no  price  at  all  by  a 
great  nobleman.  So  I  must  forthwith  write  out  for 
you  a  count's  commission,  I  suppose,  and  must 
write  out  your  grants  to  fertile  lands  and  a  stout 
castle  or  two,  and  must  date  your  title  to  these 
things  from  yesterday." 

"Certainly,"   said   Manuel,   "it  would  not  look 


66  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

well  for  you  to  be  neglecting  due  respect  to  such 
a  famous  prophecy,  with  that  bottle  of  ink  at  your 
elbow." 

So  King  Ferdinand  sent  for  the  Count  of 
Poictesme,  and  explained  to  him  as  between  old 
friends  how  the  matter  stood,  and  that  afternoon 
the  high  Count  was  confessed  and  decapitated. 
Poictesme  being  now  a  vacant  fief,  King  Ferdi- 
nand ennobled  Manuel,  and  made  him  Count  of 
Poictesme. 

It  was  true  that  all  Poictesme  was  then  held  by 
the  Northmen,  under  Duke  Asmund,  who  denied 
King  Ferdinand's  authority  with  contempt,  and  de- 
feated him  in  battle  with  annoying  persistence:  so 
that  Manuel  for  the  present  acquired  nothing  but 
the  sonorous  title. 

"Some  terrible  calamity,  however/'  as  King 
Ferdinand  pointed  out,  "is  sure  to  befall  Asmund 
and  his  iniquitous  followers  before  very  long,  so  we 
need  not  bother  about  them." 

"But  how  may  I  be  certain  of  that,  sir?"  Manuel 
asked. 

"Count,  I  am  surprised  at  such  scepticism!  Is  it 
not  very  explicitly  stated  in  Holy  Writ  that  though 
the  wicked  may  flourish  for  a  while  they  are  pres- 
ently felled  like  green  bay-trees?" 

"Yes,  to  be  sure.  So  there  is  no  doubt  that  your 
soldiers  wilt  soon  conquer  Duke  Asmund." 


A  HALO  FOR  HOLINESS  67 

"But  I  must  not  send  any  soldiers  to  fight  against 
him,  now  that  I  am  a  saint,  for  that  would  not  look 
well.  It  would  have  an  irreligious  appearance  of 
prompting  Heaven." 

"Still,  King,  you  are  sending  soldiers  against  the 
Moors— " 

"Ah,  but  it  is  not  your  lands,  Count,  but  my  city 
of  Ubeda,  which  the  Moors  are  attacking,  and  to 
attack  a  saint,  as  you  must  undoubtedly  understand, 
is  a  dangerous  heresy  which  it  is  my  duty  to  put 
down." 

"Yes,  to  be  sure.  Well,  well  I"  says  Manuel,  "at 
any  rate,  to  be  a  count  is  something,  and  it  is  better 
to  ward  a  fine  name  than  a  parcel  of  pigs,  though 
it  appears  the  pigs  are  the  more  nourishing." 

In  the  meanwhile  the  King's  heralds  rode  every- 
whither in  fluted  armor,  to  proclaim  the  fulfilment 
of  the  old  prophecy  as  to  the  Archangel  Oriphiel's 
feather.  Never  before  was  there  such  a  hubbub  in 
those  parts,  for  the  bells  of  all  the  churches  sounded 
all  day,  and  all  the  people  ran  about  praying  at  the 
top  of  their  voices,  and  forgiving  their  relatives,  and 
kissing  the  girls,  and  blowing  whistles  and  ringing 
cow-bells,  because  the  city  now  harbored  a  relic  so 
holy  that  the  vilest  sinner  had  but  to  touch  it  to  be 
purified  of  iniquity. 

And  that  day  King  Ferdinand  dismissed  the  evil 
companions  with  whom  he  had  so  long  rioted  in 


68  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

every  manner  of  wickedness,  and  Ferdinand  lived 
henceforward  as  became  a  saint.  He  builded  two 
churches  a  year,  and  fared  edifyingly  on  roots  and 
herbs ;  he  washed  the  feet  of  three  indigent  persons 
daily,  and  went  in  sackcloth;  whenever  he  burned 
heretics  he  fetched  and  piled  up  the  wood  himself, 
so  as  to  inconvenience  nobody;  and  he  made 
prioresses  and  abbesses  of  his  more  intimate  and 
personal  associates  of  yesterday,  because  he  knew 
that  people  are  made  holy  by  contact  with  holiness, 
and  that  sainthood  is  retro-active. 

Thereafter  Count  Manuel  abode  for  a  month  at 
the  court  of  King  Ferdinand,  noting  whatever  to 
this  side  and  to  that  side  seemed  most  notable. 
Manuel  was  generally  liked  by  the  elect,  and  in  the 
evening  when  the  court  assembled  for  family- 
prayers  nobody  was  more  devout  than  the  Count  of 
Poictesme.  He  had  a  quiet  way  with  the  abbesses 
and  prioresses,  and  with  the  anchorites  and  bishops 
a  way  of  simplicity  which  was  vastly  admired  in  a 
divine  emissary.  "But  the  particular  favor  of 
Heaven,"  as  King  Ferdinand  pointed  out,  "is  al- 
ways reserved  for  modest  persons." 

The  feather  from  the  wing  of  Helmas'  goose 
King  Ferdinand  had  caused  to  be  affixed  to  the  un- 
assuming skullcap  with  a  halo  of  gold  wire  which 
Ferdinand  now  wore  in  the  place  of  a  vainglorious 
earthly  crown;  so  that  perpetual  contiguity  with 


A  HALO  FOR  HOLINESS  69 

this  relic  might  keep  him  in  augmenting  sanctity. 
And  now  that  doubt  of  himself  had  gone  out  of 
his  mind,  Ferdinand  lived  untroubled,  and  his  diges- 
tion improved  on  his  light  diet  of  roots  and  herbs, 
and  his  loving-kindness  was  infinite,  because  he 
could  not  now  be  angry  with  the  pitiable  creatures 
haled  before  him,  when  he  considered  what  lengthy 
and  ingenious  torments  awaited  every  one  of  them, 
either  in  hell  or  purgatory,  while  Ferdinand  would 
be  playing  a  gold  harp  in  heaven. 

So  Ferdinand  dealt  tenderly  and  generously  with 
all.  Half  of  his  subjects  said  that  simply  showed 
you :  and  the  rest  of  them  assented  that  indeed  you 
might  well  say  that,  and  they  had  often  thought 
of  it,  and  had  wished  that  young  people  would  take 
profit  by  considering  such  things  more  seriously. 

And  Manuel  got  clay  and  modeled  a  figure  which 
had  the  features  and  the  holy  look  of  King  Ferdi- 
nand. 

"Yes,  this  young  fellow  you  have  made  of  mud 
is  something  like  me,"  the  King  conceded,  "although 
clay  of  course  cannot  do  justice  to  the  fine  red 
cheeks  and  nose  I  used  to  have  in  the  unregenerate 
days  when  I  thought  about  such  vanities,  and,  be- 
sides, it  is  rather  more  like  you.  Still,  Count,  the 
thing  has  feeling,  it  is  wholesome,  it  is  refreshingly 
free  from  these  modern  morbid  considerations  of 
anatomy,  and  it  does  you  credit.'* 


70  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No,  King,  I  like  this  figure  well  enough,  now 
that  it  is  done,  but  it  is  not,  I  somehow  know,  the 
figure  I  desire  to  make.  No,  I  must  follow  after 
my  own  thinking  and  my  own  desires,  and  I  do  not 
need  holiness." 

"You  artists!"  the  King  said.  "But  there  is 
more  than  mud  upon  your  mind." 

"In  fact,  I  am  puzzled,  King,  to  see  you  made  a 
saint  of  by  its  being  expected  of  you." 

"But,  Count,  that  ought  to  grieve  nobody,  so 
long  as  I  do  not  complain,  and  it  is  of  something 
graver  you  are  thinking." 

"I  think,  sir,  that  it  is  not  right  to  rob  anybody 
of  anything,  and  I  reflect  that  absolute  righteous- 
ness is  a  fine  feather  in  one's  cap/' 

Then  Manuel  went  into  the  chicken-yard  behind 
the  red-roofed  palace  of  King  Ferdinand,  and 
caught  a  goose,  and  plucked  from  its  wing  a  feather. 
Thereafter  the  florid  young  Count  of  Poictesme 
rode  east,  on  a  tall  dappled  horse,  and  a  retinue  of 
six  lackeys  in  blue  and  yellow  liveries  came  canter- 
ing after  him,  and  the  two  foremost  lackeys  carried 
in  knapsacks,  marked  with  a  gold  coronet,  the 
images  which  Dom  Manuel  had  made.  A  third 
lackey  carried  Dom  Manuel's  shield,  whereon  was 
emblazoned  the  rampant  and  bridled  stallion  of 
Poictesme,  but  the  old  arms  had  now  a  new  motto. 


A  HALO  FOR  HOLINESS  71 

"What  means  this  Greek?"  Dom  Manuel  had 
asked. 

"Mundus  decipit,  Count,"  they  told  him,  "is  the 
old  pious  motto  of  Poictesme:  it  signifies  that  the 
affairs  of  this  world  are  a  vain  fleeting  show,  and 
that  terrestrial  appearances  are  nowhere  of  any  par- 
ticular importance." 

"Then  your  motto  is  green  inexperience,"  said 
Manuel,  "and  for  me  to  bear  it  would  be  black  in- 
gratitude." 

So  the  writing  had  been  changed  in  accordance 
with  his  instructions,  and  it  now  read  Mundus  vult 
decipi. 


9- 

The  Feather  of  Love 


IN  such  estate  it  was  that  Count  Manuel  came, 
on  Christmas  morning,  just  two  days  after 
Manuel  was  twenty-one,  into  Provence.  This 
land,  reputed  sorcerous,  in  no  way  displayed  to  him 
any  unusual  features,  though  it  was  noticeable  that 
the  King's  marmoreal  palace  was  fenced  with  silver 
pikes  whereon  were  set  the  embalmed  heads  of 
young  men  who  had  wooed  the  Princess  Alianora 
unsuccessfully.  Manuel's  lackeys  did  not  at  first 
like  the  looks  of  these  heads,  and  said  they  were  un- 
suitable for  Christmas  decorations:  but  Dom  Man- 
uel explained  that  at  this  season  of  general  merri- 
ment this  palisade  also  was  mirth-provoking  because 
(the  weather  being  such  as  was  virtually  unprece- 
dented in  these  parts)  a  light  snow  had  fallen  during 
the  night,  so  that  each  head  seemed  to  wear  a  night- 
cap. 

They  bring  Manuel  to  Raymond  Berenger,  Count 
of  Provence  and  King  of  Aries,  who  was  holding 
the  Christmas  feast  in  his  warm  hall.  Raymond 
sat  on  a  fine  throne  of  carved  white  ivory  and  gold, 
beneath  a  purple  canopy.  And  beside  him,  upon 

72 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  73 

just  such  another  throne,  not  quite  so  high,  sat 
Raymond's  daughter,  Alianora  the  Unattainable 
Princess,  in  a  robe  of  watered  silk  which  was  of 
seven  colors  and  was  lined  with  the  dark  fur  of 
barbiolets.  In  her  crown  were  chrysolites  and 
amethysts:  it  was  a  wonder  to  note  how  brightly 
they  shone,  but  they  were  not  so  bright  as  Alianora's 
eyes. 

She  stared  as  Manuel  of  the  high  head  came 
through  the  hall,  wherein  the  barons  were  seated  ac- 
cording to  their  degrees.  She  had,  they  say,  four 
reasons  for  remembering  the  impudent  huge  squint- 
ing yellow-haired  young  fellow  whom  she  had  en- 
countered at  the  pool  of  Haranton.  She  blushed, 
and  spoke  with  her  father  in  the  whistling  and  hiss- 
ing language  which  the  Apsarasas  use  among  them- 
selves :  and  her  father  laughed  long  and  loud. 

Says  Raymond  Berenger:  "Things  might  have 
fallen  out  much  worse.  Come  tell  me  now,  Count 
of  Poictesme,  what  is  that  I  see  in  your  breast 
pocket  wrapped  in  red  silk?" 

"It  is  a  feather,  King,"  replied  Manuel,  a  little 
wearily,  "wrapped  in  a  bit  of  my  sister's  best  petti- 
coat." 

"Ay,  ay,"  says  Raymond  Berenger,  with  a  grin 
that  was  becoming  even  more  benevolent,  "and  I 
need  not  ask  what  price  you  come  expecting  for 
that  feather.  None  the  less,  you  are  an  excellently 


74  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

spoken-of  young  wizard  of  noble  condition,  who 
have  slain  no  doubt  a  reasonable  number  of  giants 
and  dragons,  and  who  have  certainly  turned  kings 
from  folly  and  wickedness.  For  such  fine  rumors 
speed  before  the  man  who  has  fine  deeds  behind 
him  that  you  do  not  come  into  my  realm  as  a 
stranger :  and,  I  repeat,  things  might  have  fallen  out 
much  worse." 

"Now  listen,  all  ye  that  hold  Christmas  here!" 
cried  Manuel.  "A  while  back  I  robbed  this 
Princess  of  a  feather,  and  the  thought  of  it  lay  in 
my  mind  more  heavy  than  a  feather,  because  I  had 
taken  what  did  not  belong  to  me.  So  a  bond  was 
on  me,  and  I  set  out  toward  Provence  to  restore  to 
her  a  feather.  And  such  happenings  befell  me  by 
the  way  that  at  Michaelmas  I  brought  wisdom  into 
one  realm,  and  at  All-Hallows  I  brought  piety  into 
another  realm.  Now  what  I  may  be  bringing  into 
this  realm  of  yours  at  Heaven's  most  holy  season, 
Heaven  only  knows.  To  the  eye  it  may  seem  a 
quite  ordinary  feather.  Yet  life  in  the  wide  world, 
I  find,  is  a  queerer  thing  than  ever  any  swineherd 
dreamed  of  in  his  wattled  hut,  and  people  every- 
where are  nourished  by  their  beliefs,  in  a  way  that 
the  meat  of  pigs  can  nourish  nobody." 

Raymond  Berenger  said,  with  a  wise  nod :  "I 
perceive  what  is  in  your  heart,  and  I  see  likewise 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  75 

what  is  in  your  pocket.  So  why  do  you  tell  me 
what  everybody  knows?  Everybody  knows  that 
the  robe  of  the  Apsarasas,  which  is  the  peculiar 
treasure  of  Provence,  has  been  ruined  by  the  loss  of 
a  feather,  so  that  my  daughter  can  no  longer  go 
abroad  in  the  appearance  .of  a  swan,  because  the 
robe  is  not  able  to  work  any  more  wonders  until 
that  feather  in  your  pocket  has  been  sewed  back 
into  the  robe  with  the  old  incantation." 

"Now,  but  indeed  does  everybody  know  that!" 
says  Manuel. 

"—Everybody  knows,  too,  that  my  daughter  has 
pined  away  with  fretting  after  her  lost  ways  of  out- 
door exercise,  and  the  healthful  changes  of  air 
which  she  used  to  be  having.  And  finally,  every- 
body knows  that,  at  my  daughter's  very  sensible 
suggestion,  I  have  offered  my  daughter's  hand  in 
marriage  to  him  who  would  restore  that  feather, 
and  death  to  every  impudent  young  fellow  who 
dared  enter  here  without  it,  as  my  palace  fence  at- 
tests." 

"Oh,  oh!"  says  Manuel,  smiling,  "but  seemingly 
it  is  no  wholesome  adventure  which  has  come  to 
me  unsought!" 

" — So,  as  you  tell  me,  you  came  into  Provence: 
and,  as  there  is  no  need  to  tell  me,  I  hope,  who 
have  still  two  eyes  in  my  head,  you  have  achieved 


76  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

the  adventure.  So  why  do  you  keep  telling  me 
about  matters  with  which  I  am  as  well  acquainted 
as  you  ?" 

"But,  King  of  Aries,  how  do  you  know  that  this 
is  not  an  ordinary  feather?" 

"Count  of  Poictesme,  do  people  anywhere — " 

"Oh,  spare  me  that  vile  bit  of  worldly  logic,  sir, 
and  I  will  concede  whatever  you  desire !" 

"Then  do  you  stop  talking  such  nonsense,  and 
give  my  daughter  her  feather!" 

Manuel  ascends  the  white  throne  of  Alianora. 
"Queer  things  have  befallen  me,"  said  Manuel,  "but 
nothing  more  strange  than  this  can  ever  happen, 
than  that  I  should  be  standing  here  with  you,  and 
holding  this  small  hand  in  mine.  You  are  not  per- 
haps quite  so  beautiful  nor  so  clever  as  Niafer. 
Nevertheless,  you  are  the  Unattainable  Princess, 
whose  loveliness  recalled  me  from  vain  grieving 
after  Niafer,  within  a  half-hour  of  Niafer's  loss. 
Yes,  you  are  she  whose  beauty  kindled  a  dream  and 
a  dissatisfaction  in  the  heart  of  a  swineherd,  to 
lead  him  forth  into  the  wide  world,  and  through 
the  puzzling  ways  of  the  wide  world,  and  into  its 
high  places:  so  that  at  the  last  the  swineherd  is 
standing — a-glitter  in  satin  and  gold  and  in  rich 
furs, — here  at  the  summit  of  a  throne;  and  at  the 
last  the  hand  of  the  Unattainable  Princess  is  in  his 
hand,  and  in  his  heart  is  misery/' 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  77 

The  Princess  said,  "I  do  not  know  anything  about 
this  Niafer,  who  was  probably  no  better  than  she 
should  have  been,  nor  do  I  know  of  any  conceivable 
reason  for  your  being  miserable." 

"Why,  is  it  not  the  truth,"  asks  Manuel  of 
Alianora,  speaking  not  very  steadily,  "that  you  are 
to  marry  the  man  who  restores  the  feather  of  which 
you  were  robbed  at  the  pool  of  Haranton,  and  can 
marry  none  other?" 

"It  is  the  truth,"  she  answered,  in  a  small 
frightened  lovely  voice,  "and  I  no  longer  grieve 
that  it  is  the  truth,  and  I  think  it  a  most  impolite 
reason  for  your  being  miserable." 

Manuel  laughed  without  ardor.  "See  how  we 
live  and  learn !  I  recall  now  the  droll  credulity  of 
a  lad  who  watched  a  shining  feather  burned,  while 
he  sat  within  arm's  reach  thinking  about  cabbage 
soup,  because  his  grave  elders  assured  him  that  a 
feather  could  never  be  of  any  use  to  anybody.  And 
that,  too,  after  he  had  seen  what  uses  may  be  made 
of  an  old  bridle  or  of  a  duck  egg  or  of  anything! 
Well,  but  all  water  that  is  past  the  dam  must  go 
its  way,  even  though  it  be  a  flood  of  tears — " 

Here  Manuel  gently  shrugged  broad  shoulders. 
He  took  out  of  his  pocket  the  feather  he  had 
plucked  from  the  wing  of  Ferdinand's  goose. 

He  said :  "A  feather  I  took  from  you  in  the  red 
autumn  woods,  and  a  feather  I  now  restore  to  you, 


78  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

my  Princess,  in  this  white  palace  of  yours,  not  ask- 
ing any  reward,  and  not  claiming  to  be  remembered 
by  you  in  the  gray  years  to  come,  but  striving  to 
leave  no  obligation  undischarged  and  no  debt  un- 
paid. And  whether  in  this  world  wherein  nothing 
is  certain,  one  feather  is  better  than  another  feather, 
I  do  not  know.  It  well  may  come  about  that  I 
must  straightway  take  a  foul  doom  from  fair  lips, 
and  that  presently  my  head  will  be  drying  on  a 
silver  pike.  Even  so,  one  never  knows :  and  I  have 
learned  that  it  is  well  to  put  all  doubt  of  oneself 
quite  out  of  mind." 

He  gave  her  the  feather  he  had  plucked  from  the 
third  goose,  and  the  trumpets  sounded  as  a  token 
that  the  quest  of  Alianora' s  feather  had  been  ful- 
filled, and  all  the  courtiers  shouted  in  honor  of 
Count  Manuel. 

Alianora  looked  at  what  was  in  her  hand,  and 
saw  it  was  a  goose- feather,  in  nothing  resembling 
the  feather  which,  when  she  had  fled  in  maidenly 
embarrassment  from  Manuel's  over-friendly  ad- 
vances, she  had  plucked  from  the  robe  of  the 
Apsarasas,  and  had  dropped  at  Manuel's  feet,  in 
order  that  her  father  might  be  forced  to  proclaim 
this  quest,  and  the  winning  of  it  might  be  prede- 
termined. 

Then  Alianora  looked  at  Manuel.  Now  before 
her  the  queer  unequal  eyes  of  this  big  young  man 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  79 

were  bright  and  steadfast  as  altar  candles.  His 
chin  was  well  up,  and  it  seemed  to  her  that  this  fine 
young  fellow  expected  her  to  declare  the  truth, 
when  the  truth  would  be  his  death-sentence.  She 
had  no  patience  with  his  nonsense. 

Says  Alianora,  with  that  lovely  tranquil  smile  of 
hers :  "Count  Manuel  has  fulfilled  the  quest.  He 
has  restored  to  me  the  feather  from  the  robe  of  the 
Apsarasas.  I  recognize  it  perfectly." 

"Why,  to  be  sure,"  says  Raymond  Berenger. 
"Still,  do  you  get  your  needle  and  the  recipe  for  the 
old  incantation,  and  the  robe  too,  and  make  it  plain 
to  all  my  barons  that  the  power  of  the  robe  is  re- 
turned to  it,  by  flying  about  the  hall  a  little  in  the 
appearance  of  a  swan.  For  it  is  better  to  conduct 
these  affairs  in  due  order  and  without  any  suspicion 
of  irregularity." 

Now  matters  looked  ticklish  for  Dom  Manuel, 
since  he  and  Aliancrra  knew  that  the  robe  had  been 
spoiled,  and  that  the  addition  of  any  number  of 
goose- feathers  was  not  going  to  turn  Alianora  into 
a  swan.  Yet  the  boy's  handsome  and  high-colored 
face  stayed  courteously  attentive  to  the  wishes  of 
his  host,  and  did  not  change. 

But  Alianora  said  indignantly:  "My  father,  I 
am  surprised  at  you!  Have  you  no  sense  of  de- 
cency at  all?  You  ought  to  know  it  is  not  be- 
coming for  an  engaged  girl  to  be  flying  about  Pro- 


80  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

vence  in  the  appearance  of  a  swan,  far  less  among 
a  parcel  of  men  who  have  been  drinking  all  morn- 
ing. It  is  the  sort  of  thing  that  leads  to  a  girl's 
being  talked  about." 

"Now,  that  is  true,  my  dear,"  said  Raymond 
Berenger,  abashed,  "and  the  sentiment  does  you 
credit.  So  perhaps  I  had  better  suggest  something 
else—" 

"Indeed,  my  father,  I  see  exactly  what  you  would 
be  suggesting.  And  I  believe  you  are  right." 

"I  am  not  infallible,  my  dear :  but  still — " 

"Yes,  you  are  perfectly  right:  it  is  not  well  for 
any  married  woman  to  be  known  to  possess  any 
such  robe.  There  is  no  telling,  just  as  you  say, 
what  people  would  not  be  whispering  about  her, 
nor  what  disgraceful  tricks  she  would  not  get  the 
credit  of  playing  on  her  husband." 

"My  daughter,  I  was  only  about  to  tell  you — " 

"Yes,  and  you  put  it  quite  unanswerably.  For 
you,  who  have  the  name  of  being  the  wisest  Count 
that  ever  reigned  in  Provence,  and  the  shrewdest 
King  that  Aries  has  ever  had,  know  perfectly  well 
how  people  talk,  and  how  eager  people  are  to  talk, 
and  to  place  the  very  worst  construction  on  every- 
thing :  and  you  know,  too,  that  husbands  do  not  like 
such  talk.  Certainly  I  had  not  thought  of  these 
things,  my  father,  but  I  believe  that  you  are  right." 

Raymond  Berenger  stroked  his  thick  short  beard, 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  81 

and  said:  "Now  truly,  my  daughter,  whether  or 
not  I  be  wise  and  shrewd — though,  as  you  say,  of 
course  there  have  been  persons  kind  enough  to  con- 
sider— and  in  petitions  too —  However,  be  that  as  it 
may,  and  putting  aside  the  fact  that  everybody  likes 
to  be  appreciated,  I  must  confess  I  can  imagine  no 
gift  which  would  at  this  high  season  be  more  ac- 
ceptable to  any  husband  than  the  ashes  of  that 
robe." 

"This  is  a  saying,"  Alianora  here  declares,  "well 
worthy  of  Raymond  Berenger:  and  I  have  often 
wondered  at  your  striking  way  of  putting  things." 

"That,  too,  is  a  gift,"  the  King-Count  said,  with 
proper  modesty,  "which  to  some  persons  is  given, 
and  to  others  not:  so  I  deserve  no  credit  for  it. 
But,  as  I  was  saying  when  you  interrupted  me,  my 
dear,  it  is  well  for  youth  to  have  its  fling,  because 
(as  I  have  often  thought)  we  are  young  only  once: 
and  so  I  have  not  ever  criticized  your  jauntings 
in  far  lands.  But  a  husband  is  another  pair  of 
sandals.  A  husband  does  not  like  to  have  his  wife 
flying  about  the  tree-tops  and  the  tall  lonely  moun- 
tains and  the  low  long  marshes,  with  nobody  to  keep 
an  eye  on  her,  and  that  is  the  truth  of  it.  So,  were 
I  in  your  place,  and  wise  enough  to  listen  to  the  old 
father  who  loves  you,  and  who  is  wiser  than  you, 
my  dear — why,  now  that  you  are  about  to  marry,  I 
repeat  to  you  with  all  possible  earnestness,  my  dar- 


82  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

ling,  I  would  destroy  this  feather  and  this  robe  in 
one  red  fire,  if  only  Count  Manuel  will  agree  to  it. 
For  it  is  he  who  now  has  power  over  all  your  pos- 
sessions, and  not  I." 

"Count  Manuel,"  says  Alianora,  with  that  lovely 
tranquil  smile  of  hers,  "you  perceive  that  my  father 
is  insistent,  and  it  is  my  duty  to  be  guided  by  him. 
I  do  not  deny  that,  upon  my  father's  advice,  I  am 
asking  you  to  let  perish  a  strong  magic  which  many 
persons  would  value  above  a  woman's  pleading. 
But  I  know  now" — her  eyes  met  his,  and  to  any 
young  man  anywhere  with  a  heart  moving  in  him, 
that  which  Manuel  could  see  in  the  bright  frightened 
eyes  of  Alianora  could  not  but  be  a  joy  well-nigh 
intolerable, — "but  I  know  now  that  you,  who  are  to 
be  my  husband,  and  who  have  brought  wisdom  into 
one  kingdom,  and  piety  into  another,  have  brought 
love  into  the  third  kingdom :  and  I  perceive  that 
this  third  magic  is  a  stronger  and  a  nobler  magic 
than  that  of  the  Apsarasas.  And  it  seems  to  me 
that  you  and  I  would  do  well  to  dispense  with  any- 
thing which  is  second  rate." 

"I  am  of  the  opinion  that  you  are  a  singularly  in- 
telligent young  woman,"  says  Manuel,  "and  I  am 
of  the  belief  that  it  is  far  too  early  for  me  to  be 
crossing  my  wife's  wishes,  in  a  world  wherein  all 
men  are  nourished  by  their  beliefs." 

All  being  agreed,  the  Yule-log  was  stirred  up  into 


THE  FEATHER  OF  LOVE  83 

a  blaze,  which  was  duly  fed  with  the  goose-feather 
and  the  robe  of  the  Apsarasas.  Thereafter  the 
trumpets  sounded  a  fanfare,  to  proclaim  that  Ray- 
mond Berenger's  collops  were  cooked  and  peppered, 
his  wine  casks  broached,  and  his  puddings  steaming. 
Then  the  former  swineherd  went  in  to  share  his 
Christmas  dinner  with  the  King-Count's  daughter, 
Alianora,  whom  people  everywhere  had  called  the 
Unattainable  Princess. 

And  they  relate  that  while  Alianora  and  Manuel 
sat  cosily  in  the  hood  of  the  fireplace  and  cracked 
walnuts,  and  in  the  pauses  of  their  talking  noted 
how  the  snow  was  drifting  by  the  windows,  the 
ghost  of  Niafer  went  restlessly  about  green  fields 
beneath  an  ever  radiant  sky  in  the  paradise  of  the 
pagans.  When  the  kindly  great-browed  warders 
asked  her  what  it  was  she  was  seeking,  the  troubled 
spirit  could  not  tell  them,  for  Niafer  had  tasted 
Lethe,  and  had  forgotten  Dom  Manuel.  Only  her 
love  for  him  had  not  been  forgotten,  because  that 
love  had  become  a  part  of  her,  and  so  lived  on  as  a 
blind  longing  and  as  a  desire  that  did  not  know  its 
aim.  And  they  relate  also  that  in  Suskind's  low 
red-pillared  palace  Suskind  waited  with  an  old 
thought  for  company. 


PART  TWO 
THE  BOOK  OF  SPENDING 


TO 

Louis  UNTERMEYER. 


"Often  tymes  herde  Manuel  tell  of  the 
fayrness  of  this  Queene  of  Furies  and 
Gobblins  and  Hydros,  insomuch  that  he 
was  enamoured  of  hyr,  though  he  neuer 
sawe  hyr :  then  by  his  Connynge  made  he 
a  Hole  in  the  fyer,  and  went  ouer  to  hyr, 
and  when  he  had  spoke  with  hyr,  he 
shewed  hyr  his  mynde." 


10. 
Alianora 


THEY  of  Poictesme  narrate  that  after  dinner 
King  Raymond  sent  messengers  to  his  wife, 
who  was  spending  that  Christmas  with  their 
daughter,  Queen  Meregrett  of  France,  to  bid  Dame 
Beatrice  return  as  soon  as  might  be  convenient,  so 
that  they  might  marry  off  their  daughter  Alianora 
to  the  famous  Count  Manuel.  They  tell  also  how 
the  holiday  season  passed  with  every  manner  of 
festivity,  and  how  Dom  Manuel  got  on  splendidly 
with  his  Princess,  and  how  it  appeared  to  onlookers 
that  for  both  of  them,  even  for  the  vaguely  con- 
descending boy,  love-making  proved  a  very  marvel- 
ous and  dear  pursuit. 

Dom  Manuel  confessed,  in  reply  to  jealous  ques- 
tionings, that  he  did  not  think  Alianora  quite  so 
beautiful  nor  so  clever  as  Niafer  had  been,  but  this, 
as  Manuel  pointed  out,  was  hardly  a  matter  which 
could  be  remedied.  At  all  events,  the  Princess  was 
a  fine-looking  and  intelligent  girl,  as  Dom  Manuel 
freely  conceded  to  her:  and  the  magic  of  the 
Apsarasas,  in  which  she  was  instructing  him,  Dom 

87 


88  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Manuel  declared  to  be  very  interesting  if  you  cared 
for  that  sort  of  thing. 

The  Princess  humbly  admitted,  in  reply,  that  of 
course  her  magic  did  not  compare  with  his,  since 
hers  was  powerful  only  over  the  bodies  of  men  and 
beasts,  whereas  Dom  Manuel's  magic  had  so  notably 
controlled  the  hearts  and  minds  of  kings.  Still,  as 
Alianora  pointed  out,  she  could  blight  corn  and 
cattle,  and  raise  tempests  very  handily,  and,  given 
time,  could  smite  an  enemy  with  almost  any  physi- 
cal malady  you  selected.  She  could  not  kill  outright 
to  be  sure,  but  even  so,  these  lesser  mischiefs  were 
not  despicable  accomplishments  in  a  young  girl. 
Anyhow,  she  said  in  peroration,  it  was  atrocious  to 
discourage  her  by  laughing  at  the  best  she  could  do. 

"Ah,  but  come  now,  my  dear,"  says  Manuel,  "I 
was  only  teasing.  I  really  think  your  work  most 
promising.  You  have  but  to  continue.  Practise, 
that  is  the  thing,  they  say,  in  all  the  arts." 

"Yes,  and  with  you  to  help  me — " 

"No,  I  have  graver  matters  to  attend  to  than 
devil-mongering,"  says  Manuel,  "and  a  bond  to  lift 
from  myself  before  I  can  lay  miseries  on  others." 

For  because  of  the  geas  that  was  on  him  to  make 
a  figure  in  the  world,  Dom  Manuel  had  unpacked 
his  two  images,  and  after  vexedly  considering  them, 
he  had  fallen  again  to  modelling  in  clay,  and  had 
made  a  third  image.  This  image  also  was  in  the 


CONCERNS  ALIANORA  89 

likeness  of  a  young  man,  but  it  had  the  fine  proud 
features  and  the  loving  look  of  Alianora. 

Manuel  confessed  to  being  fairly  well  pleased 
with  this  figure,  but  even  so,  he  did  not  quite  recog- 
nize in  it  the  figure  he  desired  to  make,  and  there- 
fore, he  said,  he  deduced  that  love  was  not  the 
thing  which  was  essential  to  him. 

Alianora  did  not  like  the  image  at  all. 

"To  have  made  an  image  of  me/'  she  considered, 
"would  have  been  a  very  pretty  compliment.  But 
when  it  comes  to  pulling  about  my  features,  as  if 
they  did  not  satisfy  you,  and  mixing  them  up  with 
your  features,  until  you  have  made  the  appearance 
of  a  young  man  that  looks  like  both  of  us,  it  is  not 
a  compliment.  Instead,  it  is  the  next  thing  but  one 
to  egotism." 

"Perhaps,  now  I  think  of  it,  I  am  an  egotist.  At 
all  events,  I  am  Manuel." 

"Nor,  dearest,"  says  she,  "is  it  quite  befitting  that 
you,  who  are  now  betrothed  to  a  princess,  and  who 
are  going  to  be  Lord  of  Provence  and  King  of 
Aries,  as  soon  as  I  can  get  rid  of  Father,  should 
be  always  messing  with  wet  mud." 

"I  know  that  very  well,"  Manuel  replied,  "but, 
none  the  less,  a  geas  is  on  me  to  honor  my  mother's 
wishes,  and  to  make  an  admirable  and  significant 
figure  in  the  world.  Apart  from  that,  though, 
Alianora,  I  repeat  to  you,  this  scheme  of  yours, 


90  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

about  poisoning  your  father  as  soon  as  we  are 
married,  appears  to  me  for  various  reasons  ill-ad- 
vised. I  am  in  no  haste  to  be  King  of  Aries,  and, 
in  fact,  I  am  not  sure  that  I  wish  to  be  king  at  all, 
because  my  geas  is  more  important." 

"Sweetheart,  I  love  you  very  much,  but  my  love 
does  not  blind  me  to  the  fact  that,  no  matter  what 
your  talents  at  sorcery,  you  are  in  everyday  matters 
a  hopelessly  unpractical  person.  Do  you  leave  this 
affair  to  me,  and  I  will  manage  it  with  every  regard 
to  appearances." 

"Ah,  and  does  one  have  to  preserve  appearances 
even  in  such  matters  as  parricide?" 

"But  certainly  it  looks  much  better  for  Father 
to  be  supposed  to  die  of  indigestion.  People  would 
be  suspecting  all  sorts  of  evil  of  the  poor  dear  if 
it  were  known  that  his  own  daughter  could  not  put 
up  with  him.  In  any  event,  sweetheart,  I  am  re- 
solved that,  since  very  luckily  Father  has  no  sons, 
you  shall  be  King  of  Aries  before  this  new  year  is 
out." 

"No,  I  am  Manuel :  and  it  means  more  to  me  to 
be  Manuel  than  to  be  King  of  Aries,  and  Count  of 
Provence,  and  seneschal  of  Aix  and  Brignoles  and 
Grasse  and  Massilia  and  Draguignan  and  so  on." 

"Oh,  you  are  breaking  my  heart  with  this  neglect 
of  your  true  interests!  And  it  is  all  the  doing  of 
these  three  vile  images,  which  you  value  more  than 


CONCERNS  ALIANORA  91 

the  old  throne  of  Boson  and  Rothbold,  and  oceans 
more  than  you  do  me !" 

"Come,  I  did  not  say  that." 

"Yes,  and  you  think,  too,  a  deal  more  about  that 
dead  heathen  servant  girl  than  you  do  about  me, 
who  am  a  princess  and  the  heir  to  a  kingdom." 

Manuel  looked  at  Alianora  for  a  considerable 
while  before  speaking.  "My  dear,  you  are,  as  I 
have  always  told  you,  an  unusually  fine  looking  and 
intelligent  girl.  And  yes,  you  are  a  princess,  of 
course,  though  you  are  no  longer  the  Unattainable 
Princess :  that  makes  a  difference  certainly —  But, 
over  and  above  all  this,  there  was  never  anybody 
like  Niafer,  and  it  would  be  nonsense  to  pretend 
otherwise." 

The  Princess  said :  "I  wonder  at  myself.  You 
are  schooled  in  strange  sorceries  unknown  to  the 
Apsarasas,  there  is  no  questioning  that  after  the 
miracles  you  wrought  with  Helmas  and  Ferdinand : 
even  so,  I  too  have  a  neat  hand  at  magic,  and  it  is 
not  right  for  you  to  be  treating  me  as  though  I 
were  the  dirt  under  your  feet.  And  I  endure  it !  It 
is  that  which  puzzles  me,  it  makes  me  wonder  at 
myself,  and  my  sole  comfort  is  that,  at  any  rate, 
this  wonderful  Niafer  of  yours  is  dead  and  done 
with." 

Manuel  sighed.  "Yes,  Niafer  is  dead,  and  these 
images  also  are  dead  things,  and  both  these  facts 


92  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

continually  trouble  me.  Nothing  can  be  done  about 
Niafer,  I  suppose,  but  if  only  I  could  give  some 
animation  to  these  images  I  think  the  geas  upon 
me  would  be  satisfied." 

"Such  a  desire  is  blasphemous,  Manuel,  for  the 
Eternal  Father  did  no  more  than  that  with  His 
primal  sculptures  in  Eden." 

Dom  Manuel  blinked  his  vivid  blue  eyes  as  if  in 
consideration.  "Well,  but,"  he  said,  gravely,  "but 
if  I  am  a  child  of  God  it  is  only  natural,  I  think, 
that  I  should  inherit  the  tastes  and  habits  of  my 
Father.  No,  it  is  not  blasphemous,  I  think,  to  de- 
sire to  make  an  animated  and  lively  figure,  some- 
what more  admirable  and  significant  than  that  of 
the  average  man.  No,  I  think  not.  Anyhow, 
blasphemous  or  not,  that  is  my  need,  and  I  must 
follow  after  my  own  thinking  and  my  own  desire." 

"If  that  desire  were  satisfied,"  asks  Alianora, 
rather  queerly,  "would  you  be  content  to  settle  down 
to  some  such  rational  method  of  living  as  becomes 
a  reputable  sorcerer  and  king?" 

"I  think  so,  for  a  king  has  no  master,  and  he  is 
at  liberty  to  travel  everywhither,  and  to  see  the 
ends  of  this  world  and  judge  them.  Yes,  I  think 
so,  in  a  world  wherein  nothing  is  certain." 

"If  I  but  half  way  believed  that,  I  would  en- 
deavor to  obtain  Schamir,  and  put  you  to  the  test." 

"And  what  in  the  devil  is  this  Schamir?" 


CONCERNS  ALIANORA  93 

"A  slip  of  the  tongue,"  replied  Alianora,  smiling. 
"No,  I  shall  have  nothing  to  do  with  your  idiotic 
mud  figures,  and  I  shall  tell  you  nothing  further." 

"Come  now,  pettikins!"  says  Manuel.  And  he 
began  coaxing  the  Princess  of  Provence  with  just 
such  cajoleries  as  the  big  handsome  boy  had 
formerly  exercised  against  the  peasant  girls  of 
Rathgor. 

"Schamir,"  said  Alianora,  at  last,  "is  set  in  a 
signet-ring  which  is  very  well  known  in  the  coun- 
try on  the  other  side  of  the  fire.  Schamir  has  the 
appearance  of  a  black  pebble,  and  if,  after  perform- 
ing the  proper  ceremonies,  you  were  to  touch  one 
of  these  figures  with  it  the  figure  would  become 
animated." 

"Well,  but,"  says  Manuel,  "the  difficulty  is  that 
if  I  attempt  to  pass  through  the  fire  in  order  to 
reach  the  country  behind  it,  I  shall  be  burned  to 
a  cinder,  and  so  I  have  no  way  of  obtaining  this 
talisman." 

"In  order  to  obtain  it,"  Alianora  told  him,  "one 
must  hard-boil  an  egg  from  the  falcon's  nest,  then 
replace  it  in  the  nest,  and  secrete  oneself  near  by 
with  a  cross-bow,  under  a  red  and  white  umbrella, 
until  the  mother  bird,  finding  one  of  her  eggs  resists 
all  her  endeavors  to  infuse  warmth  into  it,  flies  off, 
and  plunges  into  the  nearest  fire,  and  returns  with 
this  ring  in  her  beak.  With  Schamir  she  will  touch 


94  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

the  boiled  egg,  and  so  restore  the  egg  to  its  former 
condition.  At  that  moment  she  must  be  shot,  and 
the  ring  be  secured,  before  the  falcon  returns  the 
talisman  to  its  owner,  who  is" — here  Alianora  made 
an  incomprehensible  sign — "who  is  Queen  Freydis 
of  Audela." 

"Come,"  said  Manuel,  "what  is  the  good  of  my 
knowing  this  in  the  dead  of  winter!  It  will  be 
months  before  the  falcons  are  nesting  again." 

"Manuel,  Manuel,  there  is  no  understanding  you ! 
Do  you  not  see  how  badly  it  looks  for  a  grown  man, 
and  far  more  for  a  famed  champion  and  a  potent 
sorcerer,  to  be  pouting  and  scowling  and  kicking 
your  heels  about  like  that,  and  having  no  patience 
at  all?" 

"Yes,  I  suppose  it  does  look  badly,  but  I  am 
Manuel,  and  I  follow — " 

"Oh,  spare  me  that,"  cried  Alianora,  "or  else,  no 
matter  how  much  I  may  love  you,  dearest,  I  shall 
box  your  jaws !" 

"None  the  less,  what  I  was  going  to  say  is  true," 
declared  Manuel,  "and  if  only  you  would  believe  it, 
matters  would  go  more  smoothly  between  us." 


Magic  of  the  Apsarasas 


NOW  the  tale  tells  how,  to  humor  Alianora, 
Count  Manuel  applied  himself  to  the  magic 
of  the  Apsarasas.     He  went  with  the  Prin- 
cess to  a  high  secret  place,  and  Alianora,  crying 
sweetly,  in  the  famous  old  fashion,  "Torolix,  Cicca- 
bau,  Tio,  Tio,  Torolililix !"  performed  the  proper 
incantations,  and  forthwith  birds  came  multitudi- 
nously  from  all  quarters  of  the  sky,  in  a  descending 
flood    of   color   and   flapping   and    whistling   and 
screeching. 

And  the  peacock  screamed,  "With  what  measure 
thou  judgest  others,  thou  shalt  thyself  be  judged." 

Sang    the    nightingale,     "Contentment    is    the 
greatest  happiness." 

The  turtle-dove  called,  "It  were  better  for  some 
created  things  that  they  had  never  been  created." 

The  peewit  chirped,  "He  that  hath  no  mercy  for 
others,  shall  find  none  for  himself." 

The  stork   said  huskily,   "The   fashion  of  this 
world  passeth  away." 

And  the  wail  of  the  eagle  was,  "However  long 
life  may  be,  yet  its  inevitable  term  is  death." 

95 


96  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Now  that  is  virtually  what  I  said,"  declared  the 
stork,  "and  you  are  a  bold-faced  and  bald-headed 
plagiarist." 

"And  you,"  replied  the  eagle,  clutching  the  stork's 
throat,  "are  a  dead  bird  that  will  deliver  no  more 
babies." 

But  Dom  Manuel  tugged  at  the  eagle's  wing,  and 
asked  him  if  he  really  meant  that  to  hold  good  be- 
fore this  Court  of  the  Birds.  And  when  the  in- 
furiated eagle  opened  his  cruel  beak,  and  held  up  one 
murderous  claw,  to  make  solemn  oath  that  indeed 
he  did  mean  it,  and  would  show  them  too,  the  stork 
very  intelligently  flew  away. 

"I  shall  not  ever  forget  your  kindness,  Count 
Manuel,"  cried  the  stork,  "and  do  you  remember 
that  the  customary  three  wishes  are  always  yours 
for  the  asking." 

"And  I  too  am  grateful,"  said  the  abashed  eagle, 
— "yes,  upon  the  whole,  I  am  grateful,  for  if  I 
had  killed  that  long-legged  pest  it  would  have  been 
in  contempt  of  the  court,  and  they  would  have  set 
me  to  hatching  red  cockatrices.  Still,  his  reproach 
was  not  unfounded,  and  I  must  think  up  a  new 
cry." 

So  the  eagle  perched  on  a  rock,  and  said  tenta- 
tively, "There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  too  proud 
to  fight."  He  shook  his  bald  head  disgustedly,  and 
tried,  "The  only  enduring  peace  is  a  peace  without 


OF  THE  APSARASAS  97 

victory,"  but  that  did  not  seem  to  content  him  either. 
Afterward  he  cried  out,  "All  persons  who  oppose 
me  have  pigmy  minds,"  and  "If  everybody  does 
not  do  exactly  as  I  order,  the  heart  of  the  world 
will  be  broken" :  and  many  other  foolish  things  he 
repeated,  and  shook  his  head  over,  for  none  of  these 
axioms  pleased  the  eagle. 

So  in  his  worried  quest  for  a  saying  sufficiently 
orotund  and  meaningless  to  be  hailed  with  con- 
venience as  a  great  moral  principle,  the  eagle  forgot 
all  about  Count  Manuel :  but  the  stork  did  not  for- 
get, because  in  the  eyes  of  the  stork  the  life  of  the 
stork  is  valuable. 

The  other  birds  uttered  various  such  sentiments 
as  have  been  recorded,  and  all  these,  they  told  Man- 
uel, were  accredited  sorceries.  The  big  yellow- 
haired  boy  did  not  dispute  it,  he  rarely  disputed  any- 
thing: but  the  droop  to  that  curious  left  eye  of  his 
was  accentuated,  and  he  admitted  to  Alianora  that 
he  wondered  if  such  faint-hearted  smug  little  truths 
were  indeed  the  height  of  wisdom,  outside  of  re- 
ligion and  public  speaking.  Then  he  asked  which 
was  the  wisest  of  the  birds,  and  they  told  him  the 
Zhar-Ptitza,  whom  others  called  the  Fire-Bird. 

Manuel  induced  Alianora  to  summon  the  Zhar- 
Ptitza,  who  is  the  oldest  and  the  most  learned  of 
all  living  creatures,  although  he  has  thus  far  learned 
nothing  assuredly  except  that  appearances  have  to 


98  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

be  kept  up.  The  Zhar-Ptitza  came,  crying  wearily, 
"Fine  feathers  make  fine  birds."  You  heard  him 
from  afar. 

The  Zhar-Ptitza  himself  had  every  reason  to  get 
comfort  out  of  this  axiom,  for  his  plumage  was 
everywhere  the  most  brilliant  purple,  except  that  his 
neck  feathers  were  the  color  of  new  gold,  and  his 
tail  was  blue  with  somewhat  longer  red  feathers 
intermingled.  His  throat  was  wattled  gorgeously, 
and  his  head  was  tufted,  and  he  seemed  a  trifle 
larger  than  the  eagle.  The  Fire-Bird  brought  with 
him  his  nest  of  cassia  and  sprigs  of  incense,  and  this 
he  put  down  upon  the  lichened  rocks,  and  he  sat  in 
it  while  he  talked  with  Manuel. 

The  frivolous  question  that  Manuel  raised  as  to 
his  clay  figures,  the  Zhar-Ptitza  considered  a  very 
human  bit  of  nonsense:  and  the  wise  creature  said 
he  felt  forced  to  point  out  that  no  intelligent  bird 
would  ever  dream  of  making  images. 

"But,  sir,"  said  Manuel,  "I  do  not  wish  to  burden 
this  world  with  any  more  lifeless  images.  Instead, 
I  wish  to  make  in  this  world  an  animated  figure, 
very  much  as,  they  say,  a  god  did  once  upon  a 
time—" 

"Come,  you  should  not  try  to  put  too  much  re- 
sponsibility upon  Jahveh,"  protested  the  Zhar- 
Ptitza,  tolerantly,  "for  Jahveh  made  only  one  man, 
and  did  not  ever  do  it  again.  I  remember  the  mak- 


OF  THE  APSARASAS  99 

ing  of  that  first  man  very  clearly,  for  I  was  created 
the  morning  before  with  instructions  to  fly  above 
the  earth  in  the  open  firmament  of  heaven,  so  I  saw 
the  whole  affair.  Yes,  Jahveh  did  create  the  first 
man  on  the  sixth  day.  And  I  voiced  no  criticism. 
For  of  course  after  working  continuously  for  nearly 
a  whole  week,  and  making  so  many  really  important 
things,  no  creative  artist  should  be  blamed  for  not 
being  in  his  happiest  vein  on  the  sixth  day." 

"And  did  you  happen  to  notice,  sir,"  asks  Man- 
uel, hopefully,  "by  what  method  animation  was 
given  to  Adam?" 

"No,  he  was  drying  out  in  the  sun  when  I  first 
saw  him,  with  Gabriel  sitting  at  his  feet/playing  on 
a  flageolet:  and  naturally  I  did  not  pay  any  par- 
ticular attention  to  such  foolishness." 

"Well,  well,  I  do  not  assert  that  the  making  of 
men  is  the  highest  form  of  art,  but,  none  the  less, 
a  geas  is  upon  me  to  make  myself  a  very  splendid 
and  admirable  young  man." 

"But  why  should  you  be  wasting  your  small  por- 
tion of  breath  and  strength?  To  what  permanent 
use  could  one  put  a  human  being  even  if  the  creature 
were  virtuous  and  handsome  to  look  at  ?  Ah,  Man- 
uel, you  have  not  seen  them  pass,  as  I  have  seen 
them  pass  in  swarms,  with  their  wars  and  their  re- 
forms and  their  great  causes,  and  leaving  nothing 
but  their  bones  behind  them." 


100  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Yes,  yes,  to  you,  at  your  age,  who  were  old  when 
Nineveh  was  planned,  it  must  seem  strange;  and 
I  do  not  know  why  my  mother  desired  that  I 
should  make  myself  a  splendid  and  admirable  young 
man.  But  the  geas  is  upon  me." 

The  Zhar-Ptitza  sighed.  "Certainly  these  femi- 
nine whims  are  not  easily  explained.  But  your  peo- 
ple have  some  way  of  making  brand-new  men  and 
women  of  all  sorts.  I  am  sure  of  this,  for  other- 
wise the  race  would  have  been  extinct  a  great  while 
since  at  the  rate  they  kill  each  other.  And  perhaps 
they  do  adhere  to  Jahveh's  method,  and  make  fresh 
human  beings  out  of  earth,  for,  now  I  think  of  it, 
I  have  seen  the  small,  recently  completed  ones,  who 
looked  exactly  like  red  clay." 

"It  is  undeniable  that  babies  do  have  something 
of  that  look/'  assented  Manuel.  "So  then,  at  least, 
you  think  I  may  be  working  in  the  proper  medium?" 

"It  seems  plausible,  because  I  am  certain  your 
people  are  not  intelligent  enough  to  lay  eggs,  nor 
could,  of  course,  such  an  impatient  race  succeed  in 
getting  eggs  hatched.  At  all  events,  they  have  un- 
doubtedly contrived  some  method  or  other,  and  you 
might  find  out  from  the  least  foolish  of  them  about 
that  method." 

"Who,  then,  is  the  least  foolish  of  mankind?" 

"Probably  King  Helmas  of  Albania,  for  it  was 
prophesied  by  me  a  great  while  ago  that  he  would 


OF  THE  APSARASAS  101 

become  the  wisest  of  men  if  ever  he  could  come  by 
one  of  my  shining  white  feathers,  and  I  hear  it  re- 
ported he  has  done  so." 

"Sir,"  said  Manuel,  dubiously,  "I  must  tell  you 
in  confidence  that  the  feather  King  Helmas  has  is 
not  yours,  but  was  plucked  from  the  wing  of  an 
ordinary  goose." 

"Does  that  matter  ?"  asked  the  Zhar-Ptitza.  "I 
never  prophesied,  of  course,  that  he  actually  would 
find  one  of  my  shining  white  feathers,  because  all 
my  feathers  are  red  and  gold  and  purple." 

"But  how  can  there  be  any  magic  in  a  goose- 
feather?" 

"There  is  this  magic,  that,  possessing  it,  King 
Helmas  has  faith  in,  and  has  stopped  bothering 
about,  himself." 

"Is  not  to  bother  about  yourself  the  highest  wis- 
dom?" 

"Oh,  no !  Oh,  dear  me,  no !  I  merely  said  it  is 
the  highest  of  which  man  is  capable." 

"But  the  sages  and  philosophers,  sir,  that  had 
such  fame  in  the  old  time,  and  made  the  maxims 
for  you  birds!  Why,  did  King  Solomon,  for  ex- 
ample, rise  no  higher  than  that  ?" 

"Yes,  yes,  to  be  sure !"  said  the  Zhar-Ptitza,  sigh- 
ing again,  "now  that  was  a  sad  error.  The  poor 
fellow  was  endowed  with,  just  as  an  experiment, 
considerable  wisdom.  And  it  caused  him  to  per- 


102  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

ceive  that  a  man  attains  to  actual  contentment  only 
when  he  is  drunk  or  when  he  is  engaged  in  occupa- 
tions not  very  decorously  described.  So  Sulieman- 
ben-Daoud  gave  over  all  the  rest  of  his  time  to 
riotous  living  and  to  co-educational  enterprises.  It 
was  logic,  but  it  led  to  a  most  expensive  seraglio 
and  to  a  very  unbecoming  appearance,  and  virtually 
wrecked  the  man's  health.  Yes,  that  was  the  up- 
shot of  one  of  you  being  endowed  with  actual 
wisdom,  just  as  an  experiment,  to  see  what  would 
come  of  it :  so  the  experiment,  of  course,  has  never 
been  repeated.  But  of  living  persons,  I  dare  as- 
sert that  you  will  find  King  Helmas  appreciably 
freed  from  a  thousand  general  delusions  by  his  one 
delusion  about  himself." 

"Very  well,  then,"  says  Manuel.  "I  suspect  a 
wilful  paradox  and  a  forced  cynicism  in  much  of 
what  you  have  said,  but  I  shall  consult  with  King 
Helmas  about  human  life  and  about  the  figure  I 
have  to  make  in  the  world." 

So  they  bid  each  other  farewell,  and  the  Zhar- 
Ptitza  picked  up  his  nest  of  cassia  and  sprigs  of 
incense,  and  flew  away  with  it:  and  as  he  rose  in 
the  air  the  Zhar-Ptitza  cried,  "Fine  feathers  make 
fine  birds." 

"But  that  is  not  the  true  proverb,  sir,"  Manuel 
called  up  toward  the  resplendent  creature,  "and 


OF  THE  APSARASAS  103 

such  perversions  too,  they  tell  me,  are  a  mark  of 
would-be  cleverness." 

"So  it  may  seem  to  you  now,  my  lad,  but  time 
is  a  very  transforming  fairy.     Therefore  do  you 
wait  until  you  are  older,"  the  bird  replied,  from  on , 
high,  "and  then  you  will  know  better  than  to  doubt 
my  cry  or  to  repeat  it" 


12. 

Ice  and  Iron 


THEN  came  from  oversea  the  Bishops  of  Ely 
and  Lincoln,  the  prior  of   Hurle,  and  the 
Master  of   the  Temple,   asking  that   King 
Raymond  send  one  of  his  daughters,  with  a  suitable 
dowry,  to  be  the  King  of  England's  wife.     "Very 
willingly,"  says  Raymond  Berenger:  and  told  them 
they  could  have  his  third  daughter  Sancha,  with  a 
thousand  marks. 

"But,  Father,"  said  Alianora,  "Sancha  is  nothing 
but  a  child.  A  fine  queen  she  would  make !" 

"Still,  my  dear,"  replied  King  Raymond,  "you 
are  already  bespoke." 

"I  was  not  thinking  about  myself.  I  was  think- 
ing about  Sancha's  true  welfare." 

"Of  course  you  were,  my  dear,  and  everybody 
knows  the  sisterly  love  you  have  for  her." 

"The  pert  little  mess  is  spoilt  enough  as  it  is, 
Heaven  knows.  And  if  things  came  to  the  pass 
that  I  had  to  stand  up  whenever  Sancha  came  into 
the  room,  and  to  sit  on  a  footstool  while  she  lolled 
back  in  a  chair  the  way  Meregrett  does,  it  would 
be  the  child's  ruin." 

104 


AS  TO  ICE  AND  IRON  105 

Raymond  Berenger  said :  "Now  certainly  it  will 
be  hard  on  you  to  have  two  sisters  that  are  queens, 
and  with  perhaps  little  Beatrice  also  marrying  some 
king  or  another  when  her  time  comes,  and  you 
staying  only  a  countess,  who  are  the  best-looking  of 
the  lot." 

"My  father,  I  see  what  you  would  be  at !"  cried 
Alianora,  aghast.  "You  think  it  is  my  duty  to 
overcome  my  private  inclinations,  and  to  marry  the 
King  of  England  for  high  and  ruthless  political 
reasons  and  for  the  sake  of  Provence." 

"I  only  said,  my  darling — " 

" — For  you  have  seen  at  once,  with  that  keenness 
which  nothing  escapes,  that  with  the  aid  of  your 
wisdom  and  advice  I  would  know  very  well  how  to 
manage  this  high  King  that  is  the  master  of  no 
pocket  handkerchief  place  like  Provence  but  of  Eng- 
land and  of  Ireland  too." 

"Also,  by  rights,  of  Aquitaine  and  Anjou  and 
Normandy,  my  precious.  Still,  I  merely  ob- 
served—" 

"Oh,  but  believe  me,  I  am  not  arguing  with  you, 
my  dear  father,  for  I  know  that  you  are  much  wiser 
than  I,"  says  Alianora,  bravely  wiping  away  big 
tears  from  her  lovely  eyes. 

"Have  it  your  own  way,  then,"  replied  Raymond 
Berenger,  with  outspread  hands.  "But  what  is  to 
be  done  about  you  and  Count  Manuel  here?" 


106  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

The  King  looked  toward  the  tapestry  of 
Jephthah's  sacrifice,  beside  which  Manuel  sat,  just 
then  re-altering  the  figure  of  the  young  man  with 
the  loving  look  of  Alianora  that  Manuel  had  made 
because  of  the  urgency  of  his  geas,  and  could  not 
seem  to  get  exactly  right. 

"I  am  sure,  Father,  that  Manuel  also  will  be  self- 
sacrificing  and  magnanimous  and  sensible  about  it." 

"Ah,  yes !  but  what  is  to  happen  afterward  ?  For 
anyone  can  see  that  you  and  this  squinting  long- 
legged  lad  are  fathoms  deep  in  love  with  each 
other/' 

"I  think  that  after  I  am  married,  Father,  you 
or  King  Ferdinand  or  King  Helmas  can  send  Count 
Manuel  into  England  on  some  embassy,  and  I  am 
sure  that  he  and  I  will  always  be  true  and  dear 
friends  without  affording  any  handle  to  gossip." 

"Oho!"  King  Raymond  said,  "I  perceive  your 
drift,  and  it  is  toward  a  harbor  that  is  the  King 
of  England's  affair,  and  not  mine.  My  part  is  to 
go  away  now,  so  that  you  two  may  settle  the  details 
of  that  ambassadorship  in  which  Dom  Manuel  is  to 
be  the  vicar  of  so  many  kings." 

Raymond  Berenger  took  up  his  sceptre  and  de- 
parted, and  the  Princess  turned  to  where  Manuel 
was  pottering  with  the  three  images  he  had  made 
in  the  likeness  of  Helmas  and  Ferdinand  and 
Alianora.  "You  see,  now,  Manuel  dearest,  I  am 


AS  TO  ICE  AND  IRON  107 

heart-broken,  but  for  the  realm's  sake  I  must  marry 
the  King  of  England." 

Manuel  looked  up  from  his  work.  "Yes,  I 
heard.  I  am  sorry,  and  I  never  understood  politics, 
but  I  suppose  it  cannot  be  helped.  So  would  you 
mind  standing  a  little  more  to  the  left?  You  are  in 
the  light  now,  and  that  prevents  my  seeing  clearly 
what  I  am  doing  here  to  this  upper  lip." 

"And  how  can  you  be  messing  with  that  wet  mud 
when  my  heart  is  breaking!" 

"Because  a  geas  is  upon  me  to  make  these  images. 
No,  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  why  my  mother  de- 
sired it.  But  everything  which  is  fated  must  be 
endured,  just  as  we  must  now  endure  the  obligation 
that  is  upon  you  to  marry  the  high  King  of  Eng- 
land/' 

"My  being  married  need  not  matter  very  much, 
after  I  am  Queen,  for  people  declare  this  King  is 
a  poor  spindling  creature,  and,  as  I  was  saying, 
you  can  come  presently  into  England." 

Manuel  looked  at  her  for  a  moment  or  two.  She 
colored.  He,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  weeping 
Jephthah,  smiled.  "Well,"  said  Manuel,  "I  will 
come  into  England  when  you  send  me  a  goose- 
feather.  So  the  affair  is  arranged." 

"Oh,  you  are  all  ice  and  iron!"  she  said,  "and 
you  care  for  nothing  except  your  wet  mud  images, 
and  I  detest  you !" 


108  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"My  dearest,"  Manuel  answered  placidly,  "the 
trouble  is  that  each  of  us  desires  one  particular 
thing  over  and  above  other  things.  Your  desire  is 
for  power  and  a  great  name  and  for  a  king  who  will 
be  at  once  your  mouthpiece,  your  lackey  and  your 
lover.  Now,  candidly,  I  cannot  spare  the  time  to 
be  any  of  these  things,  because  my  desire  is  different 
from  your  desire,  but  is  equally  strong.  Also,  it 
seems  to  me,  as  I  become  older,  and  see  more  of 
men  and  of  men's  ways,  that  most  people  have  no 
especial  desire  but  only  preferences.  In  a  world 
of  such  wishy-washy  folk  you  and  I  cannot  hope 
to  escape  being  aspersed  with  comparisons  to  ice 
and  iron,  but  it  does  not  become  us  to  be  flinging 
these  venerable  similes  in  each  other's  faces." 

She  kept  silence  a  while.  She  laughed  uneasily. 
"I  so  often  wonder  about  you,  Manuel,  as  to 
whether  inside  the  big,  high-colored,  squinting, 
solemn  husk  is  living  a  very  wise-  person  or  a  very 
unmitigated  fool." 

"Then  there  is  something  else  which  we  have  in 
common,  for  I,  too,  often  wonder  about  that." 

"It  is  settled,  then?" 

"It  is  settled  that,  instead  of  ruling  little  Aries, 
you  are  to  be  Queen  of  England,  and  Lady  of  Ire- 
land, and  Duchess  of  Normandy  and  Aquitaine,  and 
Countess  of  Anjou ;  that  our  token  is  to-  be  a  goose- 
feather;  and  that,  I  diffidently  repeat,  you  are  to 


AS  TO  ICE  AND  IRON  109 

get  out  of  my  light  and  interfere  no  longer  with 
the  discharge  of  my  geas." 

"And  what  will  you  do  ?" 

"I  must  as  always  follow  after  my  own  think- 
ing-" 

"If  you  complete  the  sentence  I  shall  undoubtedly 
scream/' 

Manuel  laughed  good-humoredly.  "I  suppose  I 
do  say  it  rather  often,  but  then  it  is  true,  and  the 
great  trouble  between  us,  Alianora,  is  that  you  do 
not  perceive  its  truth." 

She  said,  "And  I  suppose  you  will  now  be  stalk- 
ing off  to  some  woman  or  another  for  consolation?" 
*  "No,  the  consolation  I  desire  is  not  to  be  found  in 
petticoats.  No,  first  of  all,  I  shall  go  to  King 
Helmas.  For  my  images  stay  obstinately  lifeless, 
and  there  is  something  lacking  to  each  of  them,  and 
none  is  the  figure  I  desire  to  make  in  this  world. 
Now  I  do  not  know  what  can  be  done  about  it, 
but  the  Zhar-Ptitza  informs  me  that  King  Helmas, 
since  all  doubt -of  himself  has  been  put  out  of  mind, 
can  aid  me  if  any  man  can." 

"Then  we  must  say  good-bye,  though  not  for  a 
long  while,  I  hope." 

"Yes,"  Manuel  said,  "this  is  good-bye,  and  to  a 
part  of  my  living  it  is  an  eternal  good-bye." 

Then  Manuel  left  his  images  where  the  old  He- 
brew captain  appeared  to  regard  them  with  violent 


110  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

dumb  anguish,  and  Manuel  took  both  of  the  girl's 
lovely  little  hands,  and  he  stood  thus  for  a  while 
looking  down  at  the  Princess. 

Said  Manuel,  very  sadly : 

"I  cry  the  elegy  of  such  notions  as  are  possible 
to  boys  alone.  'Surely,'  I  said,  'the  informing  and 
all-perfect  soul  shines  through  and  is  revealed  in 
this  beautiful  body.'  So  my  worship  began  for 
you,  whose  violet  eyes  retain  at  all  times  their  chill 
brittle  shining,  and  do  not  soften,  but  have  been  to 
me  always  as  those  eyes  which,  they  say,  a  goddess 
turns  toward  ruined  lovers  who  cry  the  elegy  of 
hope  and  contentment,  with  lips  burned  bloodless  by 
the  searing  of  passions  which  she,  immortal,  may 
neither  feel  nor  comprehend.  Even  so  do  you,  dear 
Alianora>  who  are  not  divine,  look  toward  me,  quite 
unmoved  by  anything  except  incurious  wonder,  the 
while  that  I  cry  my  elegy. 

"I,  for  love,  and  for  the  glamour  of  bright  be- 
guiling dreams  that  hover  and  delude  and  allure  all 
lovers,  could  never  until  to-day  behold  clearly  what 
person  I  was  pestering  with  my  notions.  I,  being 
blind,  could  not  perceive  your  blindness  which 
blindly  strove  to  understand  me,  and  which  hungered 
for  understanding,  as  I  for  love.  Thus  our  kisses 
veiled,  at  most,  the  foiled  endeavorings  of  flesh  that 
willingly  would  enter  into  the  soul's  high  places,  but 
is  not  able.  Now,  the  game  being  over,  what  is  the 


AS  TO  ICE  AND  IRON  111 

issue  and  end  of  it  time  must  attest.  At  least  we 
should  each  sorrow  a  little  for  what  we  have  lost  in 
this  gaming, — you  for  a  lover,  and  I  for  love. 

"No,  but  it  is  not  love  which  lies  here  expiring, 
now  we  part  f riendlily  at  the  deathbed  of  that  emo- 
tion which  yesterday  we  shared.  This  emotion  also 
was  not  divine;  and  so  might  not  outlive  the  gain- 
less  months  wherein,  like  one  fishing  for  pearls  in 
a  mill-pond,  I  have  toiled  to  evoke  from  your  heart 
more  than  Heaven  placed  in  this  heart,  wherein  lies 
no  love.  Now  the  crying  is  stilled  that  was  the 
crying  of  loneliness  to  its  unfound  mate:  already 
dust  is  gathering  light  and  gray  upon  the  unmoving 
lips.  Therefore  let  us  bury  our  dead,  and  having 
placed  the  body  in  the  tomb,  let  us  honestly  inscribe 
above  this  fragile,  flower-like  perished  emotion, 
'Here  lieth  lust,  not  love.'  " 

Now  Alianora  pouted.  "You  use  such  very  ugly 
words,  sweetheart :  and  you  are  talking  unreason- 
ably, too,  for  I  am  sure  I  am  just  as  sorry  about 
it  as  you  are — " 

Manuel  gave  her  that  slow  sleepy  smile  which 
was  Manuel.  "Just,"  he  said, — "and  it  is  that 
which  humiliates.  Yes,  you  and  I  are  second-rate 
persons,  Alianora,  and  we  have  found  each  other 
out.  It  is  a  pity.  But  we  will  always  keep  our 
secret  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  our  secret 
will  always  be  a  bond  between  us." 


112  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

He  kissed  the  Princess,  very  tenderly,  and  so  left 
her. 

Then  Manuel  of  the  high  head  departed  from 
Aries,  with  his  lackeys  and  his  images,  riding  in 
full  estate,  and  displaying  to  the  spring  sunlight 
the  rearing  stallion  on  his  shield  and  the  motto 
Mundus  vult  decipi.  Alianora,  watching  from  the 
castle  window,  wept  copiously,  because  the  poor 
Princess  had  the  misfortune  to  be  really  in  love  with 
Dom  Manuel.  But  there  was  no  doing  anything 
with  his  obstinacy  and  his  incomprehensible  notions, 
Alianora  had  found,  and  so  she  set  about  disposing 
of  herself  and  of  the  future  through  more  plastic 
means.  Her  methods  were  altered  perforce,  but 
her  aim  remained  unchanged :  and  she  still  intended 
to  get  everything  she  desired  (which  included  Man- 
uel) as  soon  as  she  and  the  King  of  England  had 
settled  down  to  some  sensible  way  of  living. 

It  worried  this  young  pretty  girl  to  consult  her 
mirror,  and  to  foreknow  that  the  King  of  England 
would  probably  be  in  love  with  her  for  months  and 
months :  but  then,  as  she  philosophically  reflected, 
all  women  have  to  submit  to  being  annoyed  by  the 
romanticism  of  men.  So  she  dried  her  big  bright 
eyes,  and  sent  for  dressmakers. 

She  ordered  two  robes  each  of  five  ells,  the  one 
to  be  of  green  and  lined  with  either  cendal  or  sarce- 
net, and  the  other  to  be  of  brunet  stuff.  She  se- 


AS  TO  ICE  AND  IRON  113 

lected  the  cloth  for  a  pair  of  purple  sandals,  and 
for  four  pairs  of  boots,  to  be  embroidered  in  circles 
around  the  ankles,  and  she  selected  also  nine  very 
becoming  chaplets  made  of  gold  filigree  and  clusters 
of  precious  stones.  And  so  she  managed  to  get 
through  the  morning,  and  to  put  Manuel  out  of 
mind,  for  that  while,  but  not  for  long. 


*$• 

What  Helmas  Directed 


NOW  the  Count  of  Poictesme  departs  from 
Provence,  with  his  lackeys  carrying  his 
images,  and  early  in  April  he  comes  to 
Helmas  the  Deep-Minded.  The  wise  King  was 
then  playing  with  his  small  daughter  Melusine  (who 
later  imprisoned  and  murdered  him),  but  he  sent 
the  child  away  with  a  kiss,  and  he  attentively  heard 
Dom  Manuel  through. 

King  Helmas  looked  at  the  images,  prodded 
them  with  a  shriveled  forefinger,  and  cleared  his 
throat;  and  then  said  nothing,  because,  after  all, 
Dom  Manuel  was  Count  of  Poictesme. 

"What  is  needed  ?"  said  Manuel. 

"They  are  not  true  to  life,"  replied  Helmas — 
"particularly  this  one  which  has  the  look  of  me." 

"Yes,  I  know  that :  but  who  can  give  life  to  my 
images  ?" 

King  Helmas  pushed  back  his  second  best  crown, 
wherein  was  set  the  feather  from  the  wing  of  the 
miller's  goose,  and  he  scratched  his  forehead.  He 
said,  "There  is  a  power  over  all  figures  of  earth  and 
a  queen  whose  will  is  neither  to  loose  nor  to  bind." 

114 


NOW  HELMAS  DIRECTS  115 

Helmas  turned  toward  a  thick  book,  wherein  was 
magic.  "Yes,  queen  is  the  same  as  cwen.  There- 
fore Queen  Freydis  of  Audela  might  help  you." 

"Yes,  for  it  is  she  that  owns  Schamir.  But  the 
falcons  are  not  nesting  now,  and  how  can  I  go  to 
Freydis,  that  woman  of  strange  deeds?" 

"Oh,  people  nowadays  no  longer  use  falcons ;  and 
of  course  nobody  can  go  to  Freydis  uninvited. 
Still,  it  can  be  managed  that  Freydis  will  come  to 
you  when  the  moon  is  void  and  powerless,  and  when 
this  and  that  has  been  arranged." 

Thereafter  Helmas  the  Deep-Minded  told  Count 
Manuel  what  was  requisite.  "So  you  will  need 
such  and  such  things,"  says  King  Helmas,  "but, 
above  all,  do  not  forget  the  ointment." 

Count  Manuel  went  alone  into  Poictesme,  which 
was  his  fief  if  only  he  could  get  it.  He  came 
secretly  to  Morven,  that  place  of  horrible  fame,  and 
beside  the  ten-colored  stone,  whereon  men  had 
sacrificed  to  Vel-Tyno  in  time's  youth,  he  builded  an 
enclosure  of  peeled  willow  wands,  and  spread  butter 
upon  them,  and  tied  them  with  knots  of  yellow 
ribbons,  as  Helmas  had  directed.  Manuel  ar- 
ranged all  matters  within  the  enclosure  as  Helmas 
had  directed.  There  Manuel  waited,  on  the  last 
night  in  April,  regarding  the  full  moon. 

In  a  while  you  saw  the  shadowings  on  the  moon's 
radiancy  begin  to  waver  and  move :  later  they  passed 


116  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

from  the  moon's  face  like  little  clouds,  and  the  moon 
was  naked  of  markings.  This  was  a  token  that 
the  Moon-Children  had  gone  to  the  well  from  which 
once  a  month  they  fetch  water,  and  that  for  an  hour 
the  moon  would  be  void  and  powerless.  With  this 
and  that  ceremony  Count  Manuel  kindled  such  a  fire 
upon  the  old  altar  of  Vel-Tyno  as  Helmas  had 
directed. 

Manuel  cried  aloud :  "Now  be  propitious,  infer- 
nal, terrestrial  and  celestial  Bombo !  Lady  of  high- 
ways, patroness  of  crossroads,  thou  who  bearest  the 
light!  Thou  who  dost  labor  always  in  obscurity, 
thou  enemy  of  the  day,  thou  friend  and  companion 
of  darkness!  Thou  rejoicing  in  the  barking  of 
dogs  and  in  shed  blood,  thus  do  I  honor  thee." 

Manuel  did  as  Helmas  had  directed,  and  for  an 
instant  the  screamings  were  pitiable,  but  the  fire 
ended  these  speedily. 

Then  Manuel  cried,  again:  "O  thou  who  wan- 
derest  amid  shadows  and  over  tombs,  and  dost 
tether  even  the  strong  sea!  O  whimsical  sister  of 
the  blighting  sun,  and  fickle  mistress  of  old  death! 
O  Gorgo,  Mormo,  lady  of  a  thousand  forms  and 
qualities !  now  view  with  a  propitious  eye  my  sacri- 
fice!" 

Thus  Manuel  spoke,  and  steadily  the  fire  upon 
the  altar  grew  larger  and  brighter  as  he  nourished 
it  repugnantly. 


NOW  HELMAS  DIRECTS  117 

When  the  fire  was  the  height  of  a  warrior,  and 
queer  things  were  happening  to  this  side  and  to  that 
side,  Count  Manuel  spoke  the  ordered  words:  and 
of  a  sudden  the  flames'  colors  were  altered,  so  that 
green  shimmerings  showed  in  the  fire,  as  though 
salt  were  burning  there.  Manuel  waited.  This 
greenness  shifted  and  writhed  and  increased  in  the 
heart  of  the  fire,  and  out  of  the  fire  oozed  a  green 
serpent,  the  body  of  which  was  well-nigh  as  thick 
as  a  man's  body. 

This  portent  came  toward  Count  Manuel  horribly. 
He,  who  was  familiar  with  serpents,  now  grasped 
this  monster's  throat,  and  to  the  touch  its  scales 
were  like  very  cold  glass. 

The  great  snake  shifted  so  resistlessly  that  Man- 
uel was  forced  back  toward  the  fire  and  toward  a 
doom  more  dreadful  than  burning:  and  the  fire- 
light was  in  the  snake's  contemptuous  wise  eyes. 
Manuel  was  of  stalwart  person,  but  his  strength 
availed  him  nothing  until  he  began  to  recite  aloud, 
as  Helmas  had  directed,  the  multiplication  tables : 
Freydis  cannot  withstand  mathematics. 

So  when  Manuel  had  come  to  two  times  eleven 
the  tall  fire  guttered  as  though  it  bended  under  the 
passing  of  a  strong  wind :  then  the  flames  burned 
high,  and  Manuel  could  see  that  he  was  grasping  the 
throat  of  a  monstrous  pig.  He,  who  was  familiar 
with  pigs,  could  see  that  this  was  a  black  pig,  caked 


118  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

with  dried  curds  of  the  Milky  Way;  its  flesh  was 
chill  to  the  touch,  like  dead  flesh;  and  it  had  long 
tusks,  which  possessed  life  of  their  own,  and  groped 
and  writhed  toward  Manuel  like  fat  white  worms. 

Then  Manuel  said,  as  Helmas  had  directed: 
"Solomon's  provision  for  one  day  was  thirty 
measures  of  fine  flour,  and  threescore  measures  of 
meal,  ten  fat  oxen,  and  twenty  oxen  out  of  the 
pastures,  and  a  hundred  sheep,  beside  harts,  and 
roebucks,  and  fallowdeer,  and  fatted  fowl.  But 
Elijah  the  Tishbite  was  fed  by  ravens  that  brought 
him  bread  and  flesh." 

Again  the  tall  flames  guttered.  Now  Manuel 
was  grasping  a  thick  heatless  slab  of  crystal,  like  a 
mirror,  wherein  he  could  see  himself  quite  clearly. 
Just  as  he  really  was,  he,  who  was  not  familiar  with 
such  mirrors,  could  see  Count  Manuel,  housed  in 
a  little  wet  dirt  with  old  inveterate  stars  adrift  about 
him  everywhither;  and  the  spectacle  was  enough  to 
frighten  anybody. 

So  Manuel  said:  "The  elephant  is  the  largest 
of  all  animals,  and  in  intelligence  approaches  the 
nearest  to  man.  Its  nostril  is  elongated,  and 
answers  to  the  purpose  of  a  hand.  Its  toes  are  un- 
divided, and  it  lives  two  hundred  years.  Africa 
breeds  elephants,  but  India  produces  the  largest." 

The  mirror  now  had  melted  into  a  dark  warm 
fluid  which  oozed  between  his  fingers,  dripping  to 


NOW  HELMAS  DIRECTS  119 

the  ground.  But  Manuel  held  tightly  to  what  re- 
mained between  his  palms,  and  he  felt,  they  say, 
that  in  the  fluid  was  struggling  something  small  and 
soft  and  living,  as  though  he  held  a  tiny  minnow. 

Said  Manuel,  "A  straight  line  is  the  shortest  dis- 
tance between  two  points." 

Of  a  sudden  the  fire  became  an  ordinary  fire,  and 
the  witches  of  Amneran  screamed,  and  Morven  was 
emptied  of  sorcery,  and  Count  Manuel  was  grasp- 
ing the  warm  soft  throat  of  a  woman.  Instantly 
he  had  her  within  the  enclosure  of  peeled  willow 
wands  that  had  been  spread  with  butter  and  tied 
with  knots  of  yellow  ribbon,  because  into  such  an 
enclosure  the  power  and  the  dominion  of  Freydis 
may  never  enter. 

All  these  things  Manuel  did  precisely  as  King 
Helmas  had  directed. 


14. 

They  Duel  on  Morven 


SO  by  the  light  of  the  seven  candles  Dom  Man- 
uel first  saw  Queen  Freydis  in  her  own  shape, 
and  in  the  appearance  which  she  wears  in  her 
own  country.  What  Manuel  thought  there  was 
never  any  telling:  but  every  other  man  who  saw 
Queen  Freydis  in  this  appearance  declared  that  in- 
stantly all  his  past  life  became  a  drugged  prelude 
to  the  moment  wherein  he  stood  face  to  face  with 
Freydis,  the  high  Queen  of  Audela. 

Freydis  showed  now  as  the  most  lovely  of 
womankind.  She  had  black  plaited  hair,  and  folds 
of  crimson  silk  were  over  her  white  flesh,  and  over 
her  shoulders  was  a  black  cloak  embroidered  with 
little  gold  stars  and  ink-horns,  and  she  wore  sandals 
of  gilded  bronze.  But  in  her  face  was  such  love- 
liness as  may  not  be  told. 

Now  Freydis  went  from  one  side  of  the  place 
to  the  other  side,  and  saw  the  magics  that  protected 
the  enclosure.  "Certainly,  you  have  me  fast,"  the 
high  Queen  said.  "What  is  it  you  want  of  me  ?" 

Manuel  showed  her  the  three  images  which  he 
120 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  121 

had  made,  set  there  arow.  "I  need  your  aid  with 
these." 

Queen  Freydis  looked  at  them,  and  Freydis 
smiled.  "These  frozen  abortions  are  painstakingly 
made.  What  more  can  anybody  demand  ?" 

Dom  Manuel  told  her  that  he  desired  to  make  an 
animated  and  lively  figure. 

Whereupon  she  laughed,  merrily  and  sweetly  and 
scornfully,  and  replied  that  never  would  she  give 
such  aid. 

"Very  well,  then,"  said  Manuel,  "I  have  ready 
the  means  to  compel  you."  He  showed  this  lovely 
woman  the  instruments  of  her  torture.  His  hand- 
some young  face  was  very  grave,  as  though  already 
his  heart  was  troubled.  He  thrust  her  hand  into 
the  cruel  vise  which  was  prepared.  "Now,  sorcer- 
ess, whom  all  men  dread  save  me,  you  shall  tell  me 
the  Tuyla  incantation  as  the  reward  of  my  en- 
deavors, or  else  a  little  by  a  little  I  shall  destroy 
the  hand  that  has  wrought  so  many  mischiefs." 

Freydis  in  the  light  of  the  seven  candles  showed 
pale  as  milk.  She  said:  "I  am  frail  and  human 
in  this  place,  and  have  no  power  beyond  the  power 
of  every  woman,  and  no  strength  at  all.  Never- 
theless, I  will  tell  you  nothing." 

Manuel  set  his  hand  to  the  lever,  ready  to  loose 
destruction.  "To  tell  me  what  I  desire  you  to  tell 
me  will  do  you  no  hurt — " 


122  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No,"  replied  Freydis:  "but  I  am  not  going  to 
take  orders  from  you  or  any  man  breathing/' 

" — And  for  defying  me  you  will  suffer  very 
terribly-—" 

"Yes,"  replied  Freydis.  "And  much  you  will 
care !"  she  said,  reproachfully. 

" — Therefore  I  think  that  you  are  acting  fool- 
ishly." 

Freydis  said:  "You  make  a  human  woman  of 
me,  and  then  expect  me  to  act  upon  reason.  It  is 
you  who  are  behaving  foolishly." 

Count  Manuel  meditated,  for  this  beyond  doubt 
sounded  sensible.  From  the  look  of  his  handsome 
young  face,  his  heart  was  now  exceedingly  troubled. 
Queen  Freydis  breathed  more  freely,  and  began  to 
smile,  with  the  wisdom  of  women,  which  is  not 
superhuman,  but  is  ruthless. 

"The  hand  would  be  quite  ruined,  too,"  said  Man- 
uel, looking  at  it  more  carefully.  Upon  the  middle 
finger  was  a  copper  ring,  in  which  was  set  a  largish 
black  stone :  this  was  Schamir.  But  Manuel  looked 
only  at  the  hand. 

He  touched  it.  "Your  hand,  Queen  Freydis, 
whatever  mischief  it  may  have  executed,  is  soft  as 
velvet.  It  is  colored  like  rose-petals,  but  it  smells 
more  sweet  than  they.  No,  certainly  my  images  are 
not  worth  the  ruining  of  such  a  hand." 

Then  Manuel  released  her,  sighing.     "My  geas 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  123 

must  stay  upon  me,  and  my  images  must  wait,"  says 
Manuel. 

"Why,  do  you  really  like  my  hands?"  asked 
Freydis,  regarding  them  critically. 

Manuel  said:  "Ah,  fair  sweet  enemy,  do  not 
mock  at  me!  All  is  in  readiness  to  compel  you  to 
do  my  will.  Had  you  preserved  some  ugly  shape 
I  would  have  conquered  you.  But  against  the 
shape  which  you  now  wear  I  cannot  contend. 
Dragons  and  warlocks  and  chimaeras  and  such 
nameless  monsters  as  I  now  see  crowding  about  this 
enclosure  of  buttered  willow  wands  I  do  not  fear 
at  all,  but  I  cannot  fight  against  the  appearance 
which  you  now  wear." 

"Why,  do  you  really  like  my  natural  appear- 
ance?" Freydis  said,  incredibly  surprised.  "It  is  a 
comfort,  of  course,  to  slip  into  it  occasionally,  but 
I  had  never  really  thought  much  about  it  one  way 
or  the  other — " 

She  went  to  the  great  mirror  which  had  been  set 
ready  as  Helmas  directed.  "I  never  liked  my  hair 
done  this  way,  either.  As  for  those  monsters  yon- 
der, they  are  my  people,  who  are  coming  out  of  the 
fire  to  rescue  me,  in  some  of  the  forgotten  shapes, 
as  spoorns  and  calcars  and  sylens,  and  other  terrors 
of  antiquity.  But  they  cannot  get  into  this  en- 
closure of  buttered  willow  wands,  poor  dears,  on  ac- 
count of  your  magickings.  How  foolish  they  look 


124  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

— do  they  not  ? — leering  and  capering  and  gnashing 
their  teeth,  with  no  superstitious  persons  anywhere 
to  pay  attention  to  them." 

Now  the  Queen  paused:  she  coughed  delicately. 
"But  you  were  talking  some  nonsense  or  other  about 
my  natural  appearance  not  being  bad  looking. 
Now  most  men  prefer  blondes,  and,  besides,  you  are 
not  really  listening  to  me,  and  that  is  not  polite." 

"It  is  so  difficult  to  talk  collectedly,"  said  Man- 
uel, "with  your  appalling  servitors  leering  and 
capering  and  gnashing  double  sets  of  teeth  all  over 
Morven — " 

Freydis,  the  high  Queen,  went  to  the  doorway 
through  which  she  might  not  pass,  unless  a  man 
lifted  her  over  the  threshold,  on  account  of  the 
tonthecs  and  the  spaks  and  the  horseshoes. 

She  cried,  in  a  high  sweet  voice:  "A  penny,  a 
penny,  twopence,  a  penny  and  a  half,  and  a  half- 
penny! Now  do  you  go  away,  all  of  you,  for  the 
wisdom  of  Helmas  is  too  strong  for  us.  There  is 
no  way  for  you  to  get  into,  nor  for  me  to  get  out 
of  this  place  of  buttered  willow  wands,  until  I  have 
deluded  and  circumvented  this  pestiferous,  squint- 
ing young  mortal.  Go  down  into  Bellegarde  and 
spill  the  blood  of  Northmen,  or  raise  a  hailstorm, 
or  amuse  yourselves  in  one  way  or  another.  Any- 
how, do  you  take  no  thought  for  me,  who  am  for 
the  while  a  human  woman :  for  my  adversary  is  a 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  125 

mortal  man,  and  in  that  duel  never  yet  has  the  man 
conquered." 

She  turned  to  Manuel.     She  said : 

"Freydis  am  I,  the  dread  high  Queen  of  Audela. 
But  you  embraced  my  penalties,  and  made  a  human 
woman  of  me.  So  do  I  tread  with  wraiths,  for  my 
lost  realm  alone  is  real.  Here  all  is  but  a  restless 
contention  of  shadows  that  pass  presently;  here  all 
that  is  visible  and  all  the  colors  known  to  men  are 
shadows  dimming  the  true  colors,  and  time  and 
death,  the  darkest  shadows  known  to  men,  delude 
you  with  false  seemings :  for  all  such  things  as  men 
hold  incontestable,  because  they  are  apparent  to 
sight  and  sense,  are  a  weariful  drifting  of  fogs 
that  veil  the  world  which  is  no  longer  mine.  So 
in  this  twilit  world  of  yours  do  we  of  Audela  ap- 
pear to  be  but  men  and  women." 

"I  would  that  such  women  appeared  more  often," 
said  Manuel. 

"Freydis  am  I,  the  dread  high  Queen  of  Audela, 
the  Queen  of  all  that  lies  behind  this  veil  of  human 
sight  and  sense.  This  veil  may  not  ever  be  lifted, 
but  very  often  the  veil  is  pierced,  and  noting  the 
broken  place,  men  call  it  fire.  Through  these  torn 
places  men  may  glimpse  the  world  that  is  real :  and 
this  glimpse  dazzles  their  dimmed  eyes  and  weakling 
forces,  and  this  glimpse  mocks  at  their  lean  might. 
Through  these  rent  places,  when  the  opening  is 


126  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

made  large  enough,  a  few  men  here  and  there,  not 
quite  so  witless  as  their  fellows,  know  how  to 
summon  us  of  Audela  when  for  an  hour  the  moon 
is  void  and  powerless :  we  come  for  an  old  reason : 
and  we  come  as  men  and  women." 

"Ah,  but  you  do  not  speak  with  the  voices  of  men 
and  women,"  Manuel  replied,  "for  your  voice  is 
music." 

"Freydis  am  I,  the  dread  high  Queen  of  Audela, 
and  very  often,  just  for  the  sport's  sake,  do  I  and 
my  servitors  go  secretly  among  you.  As  human 
beings  we  blunder  about  your  darkened  shadow 
world,  bound  by  the  laws  of  sight  and  sense,  but 
keeping  always  in  our  hearts  the  secrets  of  Audela 
and  the  secret  of  our  manner  of  returning  thither. 
Sometimes,  too,  for  the  sport's  sake,  we  imprison  in 
earthen  figures  a  spark  of  the  true  life  of  Audela: 
and  then  you  little  persons,  that  have  no  authentic 
life,  but  only  the  flickering  of  a  vexed  shadow  to 
sustain  you  in  brief  fretfulness,  say  it  is  very 
pretty;  and  you  negligently  applaud  us  as  the  most 
trivial  of  men  and  women." 

"No,  we  applaud  you  as  the  most  beautiful,"  says 
Manuel. 

"Come  now,  Count  Manuel,  and  do  you  have 
done  with  your  silly  flatterings,  which  will  never 
wheedle  anything  out  of  me !  So  you  have  trapped 
Queen  Freydis  in  mortal  flesh.  Therefore  I  must 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  127 

abide  in  the  body  of  a  human  woman,  and  be  sub- 
ject to  your  whims,  and  to  your  beautiful  big 
muscles,  you  think,  until  I  lend  a  spark  of  Audela's 
true  life  to  your  ridiculous  images.  But  I  will 
show  you  better,  for  I  will  never  give  in  to  you  nor 
to  any  man  breathing." 

In  silence  Count  Manuel  regarded  the  delightful 
shaping  and  the  clear  burning  colors  of  this 
woman's  face.  He  said,  as  if  in  sadness:  "The 
images  no  longer  matter.  It  is  better  to  leave  them 
as  they  are." 

"That  is  very  foolish  talk,"  Queen  Freydis 
answered,  promptly,  "for  they  need  my  aid  if  ever 
any  images  did.  Not  that,  however,  I  intend  to 
touch  them." 

"Indeed,  I  forbid  you  to  touch  them,  fair  enemy. 
For  were  the  images  made  as  animated  and  lively  as 
I  wish  them  to  be,  I  would  be  looking  at  them  al- 
ways, and  not  caring  for  any  woman:  and  no 
woman  anywhere  would  have  the  power  to  move 
me  as  your  beauty  moves  me  now,  and  I  would  not 
be  valuing  you  the  worth  of  an  old  onion." 

"That  is  not  the  truth,"  says  Freydis,  angrily, 
"for  the  man  who  is  satisfied  with  the  figure  he  has 
made  is  as  great  a  fool  about  women  as  any  other 
man.  And  who  are  you  to  be  forbidding  me  any- 
thing?" 

"I  would  have  you  remember,"  said  Manuel,  very 


128  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

masterfully,  "that  they  are  my  images,  to  do  with 
as  I  wish.  Also  I  would  have  you  remember  that, 
whatever  you  may  pretend  to  be  in  Audela,  here  I 
am  stronger  than  you." 

Now  the  proud  woman  laughed.  Defiantly  she 
touched  the  nearest  image,  with  formal  ancient  ges- 
tures, and  you  could  see  the  black  stone  Schamir 
take  on  the  colors  of  an  opal.  Under  her  touch  the 
clay  image  which  had  the  look  of  Alianora  shivered, 
and  took  sobbing  breath.  The  image  rose,  a  living 
creature  that  was  far  more  beautiful  than  human 
kind,  and  it  regarded  Manuel  scornfully.  Then  it 
passed  limping  from  the  enclosure,  and  Manuel 
sighed. 

"That  is  a  strong  magic,"  said  Manuel :  "and  this 
is  almost  exactly  the  admirable  and  significant  figure 
that  I  desired  to  make  in  the  world.  But,  as  I 
now  perceive  too  late,  I  fashioned  the  legs  of  this 
figure  unevenly,  and  the  joy  I  have  in  its  life  is  less 
than  the  shame  that  I  take  from  its  limping." 

"Such  magic  is  a  trifle,"  Freydis  replied,  "al- 
though it  is  the  only  magic  I  can  perform  in  an  en- 
closure of  buttered  willow  wands.  Now,  then,  you 
see  for  yourself  that  I  am  not  going  to  take  orders 
from  you.  So  the  figure  you  have  made,  will  you 
or  nil  you,  must  limp  about  in  all  men's  sight,  for 
not  more  than  a  few  centuries,  to  be  sure,  but  long 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  129 

enough  to  prove  that  I  am  not  going  to  be  dictated 
to." 

"I  do  not  greatly  care,  O  fairest  and  most  shrewd 
of  enemies.  A  half-hour  since,  it  seemed  to  me  an 
important  matter  to  wrest  from  you  this  secret  of 
giving  life  to  images.  Now  I  have  seen  the 
miracle;  I  know  that  it  is  possible  for  the  man  who 
has  your  favor  to  become  as  a  god,  creating  life, 
and  creating  lovelier  living  beings  than  any  god 
creates,  and  beings  which  live  longer,  too :  and  even 
so,  it  is  not  of  these  things  that  I  am  really  think- 
ing, but  only  of  your  eyes." 

"Why,  do  you  like  my  eyes!"  says  Freydis, 
— "you,  who  if  once  you  could  make  living  images 
would  never  be  caring  about  any  woman  any 
more?" 

But  Manuel  told  her  wherein  her  eyes  were  differ- 
ent from  the  eyes  of  any  other  person,  and  more 
dangerous;  and  she  listened,  willingly  enough,  for 
Freydis  was  now  a  human  woman.  Thereafter  it 
appeared  that  a  grieving  and  a  great  trouble  of  mind 
had  come  upon  Manuel  because  of  the  loveliness  of 
Freydis,  for  he  made  this  complaint: 

"There  is  much  loss  in  the  world,  where  men  war 
ceaselessly  with  sorrow,  and  time  like  a  strong  thief 
strips  all  men  of  all  they  prize.  Yet  when  the  em- 
peror is  beaten  in  battle  and  his  broad  lands  are 


130  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

lost,  he,  shrugging,  says,  'In  the  next  battle  I  may 
conquer/  And  when  the  bearded  merchant's  ship 
is  lost  at  sea,  he  says,  The  next  voyage,  belike,  will 
be  prosperous.'  Even  when  the  life  of  an  old 
beggar  departs  from  him  in  a  ditch,  he  says,  'I  trust 
to  be  to-morrow  a  glad  young  seraph  in  paradise/ 
Thus  hope  serves  as  a  cordial  for  every  hurt:  but 
for  him  who  has  beheld  the  loveliness  of  Freydis 
there  is  no  hope  at  all. 

"For  in  comparison  with  that  alien  clear  beauty 
there  is  no  beauty  in  this  world.  He  that  has  be- 
held the  loveliness  of  Freydis  must  go  henceforward 
as  a  hungry  person,  because  of  troubling  memories : 
and  his  fellows  deride  him  enviously.  All  the 
world  is  fretted  by  his  folly,  knowing  that  his  faith 
in  the  world's  might  is  no  longer  firm-set,  and 
that  he  aspires  to  what  is  beyond  the  world's  giving. 
In  his  heart  he  belittles  the  strong  stupid  lords  of 
earth;  and  they,  being  strong,  plan  vengeance,  the 
while  that  in  a  corner  he  makes  images  to  com- 
memorate what  is  lost :  and  so  for  him  who  has  be- 
held the  loveliness  of  Freydis  there  is  no  hope  at  all. 

"He  that  has  willed  to  look  upon  Queen  Freydis 
does  not  dread  to  consort  with  serpents  nor  with 
swine;  he  faces  the  mirror  wherein  a  man  beholds 
himself  without  self-deceiving;  he  views  the  blood 
that  drips  from  his  soiled  hands,  and  knows  that 
this,  too,  was  needed :  yet  these  endurings  purchase 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  131 

but  one  hour.  The  hour  passes,  and  therewith 
passes  also  Freydis,  the  high  Queen.  Only  the 
memory  of  her  hour  remains,  like  a  cruel  gadfly 
for  which  the  crazed  beholder  of  Queen  Freydis 
must  build  a  lodging  in  his  images,  madly  endeavor- 
ing to  commingle  memories  with  wet  mud :  and  so 
for  him  who  has  beheld  the  loveliness  of  Freydis 
there  is  no  hope  at  all." 

Freydis  heard  him  through  considerately.  "But 
I  wonder  to  how  many  other  women  you  have 
talked  such  nonsense  about  beauty  and  despair  and 
eternity,"  said  Freydis,  "and  they  very  probably 
liking  to  hear  it,  the  poor  fools!  And  I  wonder 
how  you  can  expect  me  to  believe  you,  when  you  pre- 
tend to  think  me  all  these  fine  things,  and  still  keep 
me  penned  in  this  enclosure  like  an  old  vicious  cow." 

"No,  that  is  not  the  way  it  is  any  longer.  For 
now  the  figure  that  I  have  made  in  the  world,  and 
all  else  that  is  in  the  world,  and  all  that  is  any- 
where without  this  enclosure  of  buttered  willow 
wands,  mean  nothing,  to  me,  and  there  is  no  mean- 
ing in  anything  save  in  the  loveliness  of  Freydis." 

Dom  Manuel  went  to  the  door  of  the  enclosure, 
then  to  the  windows,  sweeping  away  the  gilded 
tonthecs  and  the  shining  spaks,  and  removing  from 
the  copper  nails  the  horseshoes  that  had  been  cast 
by  Mohammed's  mare  and  Hrimfaxi  and  Balaam's 
ass  and  Pegasus.  "You  were  within  my  power. 


132  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Now  I  destroy  that  power,  and  therewith  myself. 
Now  is  the  place  unguarded,  and  all  your  servitors 
are  free  to  enter,  and  all  your  terrors  are  un- 
trammeled,  to  be  loosed  against  me,  who  have  no 
longer  anything  to  dread.  For  I  love  you  with 
such  mortal  love  as  values  nothing  else  beside  its 
desire,  and  you  care  nothing  for  me." 

After  a  little  while  of  looking  she  sighed,  and 
said  uneasily:  "It  is  the  foolish  deed  of  a  true 
lover.  And  really  I  do  like  you,  rather.  But, 
Manuel,  I  do  not  know  what  to  do  next !  Never  at 
any  time  has  this  thing  happened  before,  so  that  all 
my  garnered  wisdom  is  of  no  use  whatever.  No- 
body anywhere  has  ever  dared  to  snap  his  fingers 
at  the  fell  power  of  Freydis  as  you  are  doing,  far 
less  to  be  making  eyes  at  her.  And  besides,  I  do 
not  wish  to  consume  you  with  lightnings,  and  to 
smite  you  with  insanity  appears  so  unnecessary." 

"I  love  you,"  Manuel  said,  "and  your  heart  is 
hard,  and  your  beauty  is  beyond  the  thinking  of 
man,  and  your  will  is  neither  to  loose  nor  to  bind. 
In  a  predicament  so  unexampled,  how  can  it  at  all 
matter  to  me  whatever  you  may  elect  to  do?" 

"Then  certainly  I  shall  not  waste  any  of  my  fine 
terrors  on  you !"  said  Freydis,  with  a  vexed  tossing 
of  her  head.  "Nor  have  I  any  more  time  to  waste 
upon  you  either,  for  presently  the  Moon-Children 
will  be  coming  back  to  their  places :  and  before  the 


A  DUEL  ON  MORVEN  133 

hour  is  out  wherein  the  moon  stays  void  and  power- 
less I  must  return  to  my  own  kingdom,  whither 
you  may  not  follow  to  provoke  me  with  any  more 
of  your  nonsense.  And  then  you  will  be  properly 
sorry,  I  dare  say,  for  you  will  be  remembering  me 
always,  and  there  will  be  only  human  women  to  di- 
vert you,  and  they  are  poor  creatures." 

Freydis  went  again  to  the  mirror,  and  she 
meditated  there.  "Yes,  you  will  be  remembering 
me  with  my  hair  done  this  way,  and  that  is  a  pity, 
but  still  you  will  remember  me  always.  And  when 
you  make  images  they  will  be  images  of  me.  No, 
but  I  cannot  have  you  making  any  more  outrageous 
parodies  like  astonished  corpses,  and  people  every- 
where laughing  at  Queen  Freydis !" 

She  took  up  the  magical  pen,  laid  ready  as  Helmas 
had  directed,  and  she  wrote  with  this  gryphon's 
feather.  "So  here  is  the  recipe  for  the  Tuyla  incan- 
tation wherewith  to  give  life  to  your  images.  It 
may  comfort  you  a  little  to  perform  that  silly 
magic;  and  it  will  prevent  such  good-for-nothing 
minxes  as  may  have  no  more  intelligence  than  to 
take  you  seriously,  from  putting  on  too  many  airs 
and  graces  around  the  images  which  you  will  make 
of  me  with  my  hair  done  so  unbecomingly." 

"Nothing  can  ever  comfort  me,  fair  enemy,  when 
you  have  gone  away,"  said  Manuel.  But  he  took 
the  parchment. 


Bandages  for  the  Victor 


THEY  came  out  of  the  enclosure,  to  the  old 
altar  of  Vel-Tyno,  while  the  moon  was 
still  void  and  powerless.  The  servitors  of 
Freydis  were  thronging  swiftly  toward  Morven, 
after  a  pleasant  hour  of  ravening  and  ramping  about 
Poictesme.  As  spoorns  and  calcars  and  sylens  and 
as  other  long  forgotten  shapes  they  came,  without 
any  noise,  so  that  Morven  was  like  the  disordered 
mind  of  a  wretch  that  is  dying  in  fever:  and  to 
this  side  and  to  that  side  the  witches  of  Amneran 
sat  nodding  in  approval  of  what  they  saw. 

Thus,  one  by  one,  the  forgotten  shapes  came  to 
the  fire,  and  cried,  "A  penny,  a  penny,  twopence,  a 
penny  and  a  half,  and  a  halfpenny !"  as  each  entered 
into  the  fire  which  was  the  gateway  to  their  home. 

"Farewell!"  said  Freydis:  and  as  she  spoke  she 
sighed. 

"Not  thus  must  be  our  parting,"  Manuel  says. 
"For  do  you  listen  now,  Queen  Freydis!  It  was 
Helmas  the  Deep-Minded  who  told  me  what  was  re- 
quisite. f Queen  is  the  same  as  cwen,  which  means 

134 


MANUEL  IS  BANDAGED  135 

a  woman,  no  more  nor  less/  said  the  wise  King. 
'You  have  but  to  remember  that/  ' 

She  took  his  meaning.  Freydis  cried  out, 
angrily:  "Then  all  the  foolishness  you  have  been 
talking  about  my  looks  and  your  love  for  me  was 
pre-arranged!  And  you  have  cheated  me  out  of 
the  old  Tuyla  mystery  by  putting  on  the  appearance 
of  loving  me,  and  by  pestering  me  with  such  non- 
sense as  a  plowman  trades  against  the  heart  of  a 
milkmaid!  Now  certainly  I  shall  reward  your 
candor  in  a  fashion  that  will  be  whispered  about  for 
a  long  while." 

With  that  Queen  Freydis  set  about  a  devastating 
magic. 

"All,  all  was  pre-arranged  save  one  thing/'  said 
Manuel,  with  a  yapping  laugh,  and  not  even  looking 
at  the  commencing  terrors.  He  thrust  into  the  fire 
the  parchment  which  Freydis  had  given  him. 
"Yes,  all  was  pre-arranged  except  that  Helmas  did 
not  purge  me  of  that  which  will  not  accept  the  hire 
of  any  lying  to  you.  So  the  Deep-Minded's  wis- 
dom comes  at  the  last  pinch  to  naught." 

Now  Freydis  for  an  instant  waved  back  two- 
thirds  of  an  appalling  monster,  which  was  as  yet 
incompletely  evoked  for  Dom  Manuel's  destruction, 
and  Freydis  cried  impatiently,  "But  have  you  no 
sense  whatever !  for  you  are  burning  your  hand." 

And  indeed  the  boy  had  already  withdrawn  his 


136  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

hand  with  a  grimace,  for  in  the  ardor  of  executing 
his  noble  gesture,  as  Queen  Freydis  saw,  he  had  not 
estimated  how  hot  her  fires  were. 

"It  is  but  a  little  hurt  to  me  who  have  taken  a 
great  hurt,"  says  Manuel,  sullenly.  "For  I  had 
thought  to  lie,  and  in  my  mouth  the  lie  turned  to  a 
truth.  At  least,  I  do  not  profit  by  my  false-dealing, 
and  I  wave  you  farewell  with  empty  hands  burned 
clean  of  theft." 

Then  she  who  was  a  human  woman  said,  "But 
you  have  burned  your  hand !" 

"It  does  not  matter:  I  have  ointments  yonder. 
Make  haste,  Queen  Freydis,  for  the  hour  passes 
wherein  the  moon  is  void  and  powerless." 

"There  is  time."  She  brought  out  water  from 
the  enclosure,  and  swiftly  bathed  Dom  Manuel's 
hand. 

From  the  fire  now  came  a  whispering,  "Make 
haste,  Queen  Freydis !  make  haste,  dear  Fairy  mis- 
tress !" 

"There  is  time,"  said  Freydis,  "and  do  you  stop 
flurrying  me!"  She  brought  from  the  enclosure 
a  pot  of  ointment,  and  she  dressed  Manuel's  hand. 

"Borram,  borram,  Leanhaun  shee!"  the  fire 
crackled.  "Now  the  hour  ends." 

Then  Freydis  sprang  from  Manuel,  toward  the 
flames  beyond  which  she  was  queen  of  ancient  mys- 
teries, and  beyond  which  her  will  was  neither  to 


MANUEL  IS  BANDAGED  137 

loose  nor  to  bind.  And  she  cried  hastily,  "A  penny, 
a  penny,  twopence — " 

But  just  for  a  moment  she  looked  back  at  Mor- 
ven,  and  at  the  man  who  waited  upon  Morven  alone 
and  hurt.  In  his  firelit  eyes  she  saw  love  out  of 
measure  and  without  hope.  And  in  the  breast  of 
Freydis  moved  the  heart  of  a  human  woman. 

"I  cannot  help  it,"  she  said,  as  the  hour  passed. 
"Somebody  has  to  bandage  it,  and  men  have  no 
sense  in  these  matters." 

Whereon  the  fire  roared  angrily,  and  leaped,  and 
fell  dead,  for  the  Moon-Children  Bil  and  Hjuki  had 
returned  from  the  well  which  is  called  Byrgir,  and 
the  moon  was  no  longer  void  and  powerless. 

"So,  does  that  feel  more  comfortable?"  said 
Freydis.  She  knew  that  within  this  moment  age 
and  sorrow  and  death  had  somewhere  laid  inevitable 
ambuscades  from  which  to  assail  her  by  and  by,  for 
she  was  mortal  after  the  sacred  fire's  extinction, 
and  she  meant  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

For  a  while  Count  Manuel  did  not  speak.  Then 
he  said,  in  a  shaking  voice:  "O  woman  dear  and 
lovely  and  credulous  and  compassionate,  it  is  you 
and  you  alone  that  I  must  be  loving  eternally  with 
such"  tenderness  as  is  denied  to  proud  and  lonely 
queens  on  their  tall  thrones!  And  it  is  you  that  I 
must  be  serving  always  with  such  a  love  as  may  not 
be  given  to  the  figure  that  any  man  makes  in  this 


138  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

world !  And  though  all  life  may  be  a  dusty  waste 
of  endless  striving,  and  though  the  ways  of  men 
may  always  be  the  ways  of  folly,  yet  are  these  ways 
our  ways  henceforward,  and  not  hopeless  ways,  for 
you  and  I  will  tread  them  together." 

"Now  certainly  there  is  in  Audela  no  such  moon- 
struck nonsense  to  be  hearing,  nor  any  such  quick- 
footed  hour  of  foolishness  to  be  living  through/' 
Freydis  replied,  "as  here  to-night  has  robbed  me  of 
my  kingdom." 

"Love  will  repay,"  said  Manuel,  as  is  the  easy 
fashion  of  men. 

And  Freydis,  a  human  woman  now  in  all  things, 
laughed  low  and  softly  in  the  darkness.  "Repay 
me  thus,  my  dearest:  no  matter  how  much  I  may 
coax  you  in  the  doubtful  time  to  come,  do  you  not 
ever  tell  me  how  you  happened  to  have  the  bandages 
and  the  pot  of  ointment  set  ready  by  the  mirror. 
For  it  is  bad  for  a  human  woman  ever  to  be  see- 
ing through  the  devices  of  wise  kings,  and  far 
worse  for  her  to  be  seeing  through  the  heroic  antics 
of  her  husband." 

Meanwhile  in  Aries  young  Alianora  had  arranged 
her  own  match  with  more  circumspection.  The 
English,  who  at  first  demanded  twenty  thousand 
marks  as  her  jointure,  had  after  interminable  bar- 
gaining agreed  to  accept  her  with  three  thousand: 
and  she  was  to  be  dowered  with  Plymouth  and 


MANUEL  IS  BANDAGED  139 

Exeter  and  Tiverton  and  Torquay  and  Brixham, 
and  with  the  tin  mines  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall. 
In  everything  except  the  husband  involved,  she  was 
marrying  excellently,  and  so  all  Aries  that  night 
was  ornamented  with  flags  and  banners  and  chaplets 
and  bright  hangings  and  flaring  lamps  and  torches, 
and  throughout  Provence  there  was  festivity  of 
every  sort,  and  the  Princess  had  great  honor  and 
applause. 

But  upon  dark  Morven  they  had  happiness,  no 
matter  for  how  brief  a  while. 


PART  THREE 
THE  BOOK  OF  CAST  ACCOUNTS 


TO 

H.  L.  MENCKEN. 


"Consider,  faire  Miserie,  (quoth  Man- 
uel) that  it  lyes  not  in  mans  power  to 
place  his  loue  where  he  list,  being  the 
worke  of  an  high  Deity.  A  Birde  was 
neuer  seen  in  Pontus,  nor  true  loue  in  a 
fleeting  mynde:  neuer  shall  remoue  the 
affection  of  my  Hearte,  which  in  nature 
resembleth  the  stone  Abiston" 


id. 

Freydis 


THEY  of  Poictesme  narrate  how  Queen  Frey- 
dis and  Count  Manuel  lived  together  ami- 
cably upon  Morven.  They  tell  also  how  the 
iniquitous  usurper,  Duke  Asmund,  at  this  time  held 
Bellegarde  close  at  hand,  but  that  his  Northmen 
kept  away  from  Amneran  Heath  and  Morven,  on 
account  of  the  supernatural  beings  you  were  always 
apt  to  encounter  thereabouts,  so  that  Manuel  and 
Freydis  had,  at  first,  no  human  company. 

"Between  now  and  a  while/*  said  Freydis,  "you 
must  be  capturing  Bellegarde  and  cutting  off  Duke 
Asmund's  ugly  head,  because  by  right  and  by  King 
Ferdinand's  own  handwriting  all  Poictesme  belongs 
to  you." 

"Well,  we  will  let  that  wait  a  bit,"  says  Manuel, 
"for  I  do  not  so  heartily  wish  to  be  tied  down  with 
parchments  in  a  count's  gilded  seat  as  I  do  to  travel 
everywhither  and  see  the  ends  of  this  world  and 
judge  them.  At  all  events,  dear  Freydis,  I  am  con- 
tent enough  for  the  present,  in  this  little  home  of 
ours,  and  public  affairs  can  wait." 

"Still,  something  ought  to  be  done  about  it," 
143 


144  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

said  Freydis.  And,  since  Manuel  displayed  an  ob- 
stinate prejudice  against  any  lethal  plague,  she  put 
the  puckerel  curse  upon  Asmund,  by  which  he  was 
afflicted  with  all  small  bodily  ills  that  can  intervene 
between  corns  and  dandruff. 

Now  upon  Morven  Freydis  had  reared  by  enchant- 
ment a  modest  home,  that  was  builded  of  jasper  and 
porphyry  and  yellow  and  violet  breccia.  Inside,  the 
stone  walls  were  everywhere  covered  with  signifi- 
cant traceries  in  low  relief,  and  were  incrusted  at 
intervals  with  disks  and  tesserae  of  turquoise-colored 
porcelain.  The  flooring,  of  course,  was  of  zinc,  as 
a  defence  against  the  unfriendly  Alfs,  who  are  at 
perpetual  war  with  Audela,  and,  moreover,  there 
was  a  palisade,  enclosing  all,  of  peeled  willow 
wands,  not  buttered  but  oiled,  and  fastened  with  un- 
knotted  ribbons. 

Everything  was  very  simple  and  homelike,  and 
here  the  servitors  of  Freydis  attended  them  when 
there  was  need.  The  fallen  Queen  was  now  a  gray 
witch — not  in  appearance  certainly,  but  in  her  en- 
dowments, which  were  not  limited  as  are  the  powers 
of  black  witches  and  white  witches.  She  instructed 
Dom  Manuel  in  the  magic  of  Audela,  and  she  and 
Manuel  had  great  times  together  that  spring  and 
summer,  evoking  ancient  discrowned  gods  and  droll 
monsters  and  instructive  ghosts  to  entertain  them  in 
the  pauses  between  other  pleasures. 


TELLS  OF  FREYDIS  145 

They  heard  no  more,  for  that  turn,  of  the  clay 
figure  to  which  they  had  given  life,  save  for  the 
news  brought,  by  a  bogglebo,  that  as  the  limping 
gay  young  fellow  went  down  from  Morven  the 
reputable  citizenry  everywhere  were  horrified  be- 
cause he  went  as  he  was  created,  stark-naked, 
and  this  was  not  considered  respectable.  So 
a  large  tumble-bug  came  from  the  west,  out  of 
the  quagmires  of  Philistia,  and  followed  after 
the  animated  figure,  yelping  and  spluttering,  "Mor- 
als, not  art !"  And  for  that  while,  the  figure  went 
out  of  Manuel's  saga,  thus  malodorously  accom- 
panied. 

"But  we  will  make  a  much  finer  figure,"  says 
Freydis,  "so  it  does  not  matter." 

"Yes,  by  and  by,"  says  Manuel,  "but  we  will  let 
that  wait  a  bit." 

"You  are  always  saying  that  nowadays !" 

"Ah,  but,  my  dear,  it  is  so  very  pleasant  to  rest 
here  doing  nothing  serious  for  a  little  while,  now 
that  my  geas  is  discharged.  Presently  of  course 
we  must  be  travelling  everywhither,  and  when  we 
have  seen  the  ends  of  this  world,  and  have  judged 
them,  I  shall  have  time,  and  greater  knowledge  too, 
to  give  to  this  image  making — " 

"It  is  not  from  any  remote  strange  places,  dear 
Manuel,  but  from  his  own  land  that  a  man  must 
get  the  earth  for  this  image  making — " 


146  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Well,  be  that  as  it  may,  your  kisses  are  to  me 
far  more  delicious  than  your  magic." 

"I  love  to  hear  you  say  that,  my  dearest,  but 
still—!" 

"No,  not  at  all,  for  you  are  really  much  nicer 
when  you  are  cuddling  so,  than  when  you  are  run- 
ning about  the  world  pretending  to  be  pigs  and 
snakes  and  fireworks,  and  murdering  people  with 
your  extravagant  sorceries." 

Saying  this,  he  kissed  her,  and  thus  stilled  her 
protests,  for  in  these  amiable  times  Queen  Freydis 
also  was  at  bottom  less  interested  in  magic  than  in 
kisses.  Indeed,  there  was  never  any  sorceress  more 
loving  and  tender  than  Freydis,  now  that  she  had 
become  a  human  woman. 

If  ever  she  was  irritable  it  was  only  when  Manuel 
confessed,  in  reply  to  jealous  questionings,  that  he 
did  not  find  her  quite  so  beautiful  nor  so  clever  as 
Niafer  had  been:  but  this,  as  Manuel  pointed  out, 
could  not  be  helped.  For  there  had  never  been  any- 
body like  Niafer,  and  it  would  be  nonsense  to  say 
otherwise. 

It  is  possible  that  Dom  Manuel  believed  this. 
The  rather  homely,  not  intelligent,  and  in  no  respect 
bedazzling  servant  girl  may  well  have  been — in  the 
inexplicable  way  these  things  fall  out — the  woman 
whom  Manuel^s  heart  had  chosen,  and  who  there- 
fore in  his  eyes  for  the  rest  of  time  must  differ 


TELLS  OF  FREYDIS  147 

from  all  other  persons.  Certainly  no  unastigmatic 
judge  would  have  decreed  this  swarthy  Niafer  fit, 
as  the  phrase  is,  to  hold  a  candle  either  to  Freydis 
or  Alianora :  whereas  Manuel  did  not  conceal,  even 
from  these  royal  ladies  themselves,  his  personal  if 
unique  evaluations. 

To  the  other  side,  some  say  that  ladies  who  are 
used  to  hourly  admiration  cannot  endure  the  pass- 
ing of  a  man  who  seems  to  admire  not  quite  whole- 
heartedly. He  who  does  not  admire  at  all  is  ob- 
viously a  fool,  and  not  worth  bothering  about.  But 
to  him  who  admits,  "You  are  well  enough,"  and 
makes  as  though  to  pass  on,  there  is  a  mystery 
attached:  and  the  one  way  to  solve  it  is  to  pursue 
this  irritating  fellow.  Some  (reasoning  thus)  as- 
sert that  squinting  Manuel  was  aware  of  this  axiom, 
and  that  he  respected  it  in  all  his  dealings  with 
Freydis  and  Alianora.  Either  way,  these  theorists 
did  not  ever  get  any  verbal  buttressing  from  Dom 
Manuel.  Niafer  dead  and  lost  to  him,  he,  with- 
out flaunting  any  unexampled  ardors,  fell  to  lov- 
ing Alianora :  and  now  that  Freydis  had  put  off  im- 
mortality for  his  kisses,  the  tall  boy  had  again  some- 
what the  air  of  consenting  to  accept  her  sacrifice, 
and  her  loveliness  and  all  her  power  and  wisdom, 
as  upon  the  whole  the  handiest  available  substitute 
for  Niafer's  sparse  charms. 

Yet  others  declare,  more  simply,  that  Dom  Man- 


148  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

uel  was  so  constituted  as  to  value  more  cheaply 
every  desire  after  he  had  attained  it.  And  these 
say  he  noted  that — again  in  the  inexplicable  way 
these  things  fall  out, — now  Manuel  possessed  the 
unearthly  Queen  she  had  become,  precisely  as 
Alianora  had  become,  an  ordinary  woman  who  in 
all  commerce  with  her  lover  dealt  as  such. 

"But  do  you  really  love  me,  O  man  of  all  men?" 
Freydis  would  say,  "and  this  damned  Niafer  apart, 
do  you  love  me  a  little  more  than  you  love  any  other 
woman  ?" 

"Why,  are  there  any  other  women?"  says  Man- 
uel, in  fine  surprise.  "Oh,  to  be  sure,  I  suppose 
there  are,  but  I  had  forgotten  about  them.  I  have 
not  heard  .or  seen  or  thought  of  those  petticoated 
creatures  since  my  dear  Freydis  came." 

The  sorceress  purred  at  this  sort  of  talk,  and  she 
rested  her  head  where  there  seemed  a  place  es- 
pecially made  for  it.  "I  wish  I  could  believe  your 
words,  king  of  my  heart.  I  have  to  strive  so  hard, 
nowadays,  to  goad  you  into  saying  these  idiotic 
suitable  dear  things :  and  even  when  at  last  you  do 
say  them  your  voice  is  light  and  high,  and  makes 
them  sound  as  though  you  were  joking." 

He  kissed  the  thick  coil  of  hair  which  lay  fragrant 
against  his  lips.  "Do  you  know  that  in  spite  of  my 
joking  I  do  love  you  a  great  deal  ?" 

"I  would  practise  saying  that  over  to  myself," 


TELLS  OF  FREYDIS  149 

observed  Freydis  critically.  "You  should  let  your 
voice  break  a  little  after  the  first  three  words." 

"I  speak  as  I  feel.  I  love  you,  Freydis,  and  I 
tell  you  so." 

"Yes,  but  you  are  no  longer  a  perpetual  nuisance 
about  it." 

"Alas,  my  dear,  you  are  no  longer  the  unattain- 
able Queen  of  the  country  on  the  other  side  of  the 
fire,  and  that  makes  a  difference,  certainly.  It  is 
equally  certain  that  I  love  you  over  and  above  all 
living  women." 

"Ah,  but,  my  dearest,  who  loves  you  more  than 
any  human  tongue  can  tell  ?" 

"A  peculiarly  obstinate  and  lovely  imbecile,"  says 
Manuel ;  and  he  did  that  which  seemed  suitable. 

Later  Freydis  sighed  luxuriously.  "That  saves 
you  the  trouble  of  talking,  does  it  not?  And  you 
talked  so  madly  and  handsomely  that  first  night, 
when  you  wanted  to  get  around  me  on  account  of 
the  image,  but  now  you  do  not  make  me  any  pretty 
speeches  at  all." 

"Oh,  heavens!"  said  Manuel,  "but  I  am  embrac- 
ing a  monomaniac.  Dear  Freydis,  whatever  I 
might  say  would  be  perforce  the  same  old  words 
that  have  been  whispered  by  millions  of  men  to 
many  more  millions  of  women,  and  my  love  for  you 
is  a  quite  unparalleled  thing  which  ought  not  to  be 
travestied  by  any  such  shopworn  apparel." 


ISO  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Now  again  you  must  be  putting  me  off  with 
solemn  joking  in  that  light  high  voice,  and  there  is 
no  faithfulness  in  that  voice,  and  its  talking  troubles 


me." 


"I  speak  as  I  feel.  I  love  you,  Freydis,  and  I  tell 
you  so,  but  I  cannot  be  telling  it  over  and  over  again 
every  quarter  of  the  hour." 

"Oh,  but  very  certainly  this  big  squinting  boy  is 
the  most  unloquacious  and  the  most  stubborn  brute 
that  ever  lived !" 

"And  would  you  have  me  otherwise?" 

"No,  that  is  the  queer  part  of  it.  But  it  is  a 
grief  to  me  to  wonder  if  you  foresaw  as  much." 

"I!"  says  Manuel,  jovially.  "But  what  would  I 
be  doing  with  any  such  finespun  policies  ?  My  dear, 
until  you  comprehend  I  am  the  most  frank  and 
downright  creature  that  ever  lived  you  do  not  begin 
to  appreciate  me." 

"I  know  you  are,  big  boy.  But  still,  I  wonder," 
Freydis  said,  "and  the  wondering  is  a  thin  little 
far-off  grief." 


n* 

Magic  of  the  Image  Makers 


IT  was  presently  noised  abroad  that  Queen 
Freydis  of  Audela  had  become  a  human  woman, 
and  thereafter  certain  magicians  began  to  come 
to  Morven  to  seek  her  favor  and  her  counsel  and 
the  aid  of  Schamir. 

These  magicians  also,  Manuel  was  told,  made 
images  to  which  they  sometimes  contrived — nobody 
seemed  to  know  quite  how,  and  least  of  all  the 
magicians  themselves, — to  impart  life. 

Once  Manuel  went  with  Freydis  into  a  dark  place 
where  some  of  these  thaumaturgists  were  at  labor. 
By  the  light  of  the  charcoal  fire  clay  images  were 
ruddily  discernible,  and  before  these  the  magicians 
moved  unhumanly  clad,  and  doing  things  which, 
mercifully  perhaps,  were  veiled  from  Manuel  by  the 
peculiarly  perfumed  obscurity. 

As  Manuel  entered  the  gallery  one  of  the  sor- 
cerers was  chaunting  shrilly  in  the  darkness  below. 
"It  is  the  unfinished  Rune  of  the  Blackbirds,"  says 
Freydis,  in  a  whisper. 

Below  them  the  troubled  wailing  continued : 

" — Crammed  and  squeezed,  so  entombed  (on  some 
151 


152  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

wager,  I  hazard),  in  spite  of  scared  squawking  and 
mutter,  after  the  fashion  that  lean- faced  Rajah 
dealt  with  trapped  heroes,  once,  in  Calcutta.  Dared 
you  break  the  crust  and  bullyrag  'em — hot,  fierce 
and  angry,  what  wide  beaks  buzz  plain  Saxon  as 
ever  spoke  Witenagemot!  Yet,  singing,  they  sing 
as  no  white  bird  does  ( where  none  rears  phoenix ) 
as  near  perfection  as  nature  gets,  or,  if  scowls  bar 
platitude,  notes  for  which  there  is  no  rejection  in 
banks  whose  coinage — oh,  neat! — is  gratitude." 

Said  in  the  darkness  a  second  wizard : 

"But  far  from  their  choiring  the  high  King  sat, 
in  a  gold-faced  vest  and  a  gold-laced  hat,  counting 
heaped  monies,  and  dreaming  of  more  francs  and 
sequins  and  Louis  d'or.  Meanwhile  the  Queen  on 
that  fateful  night,  though  avowing  her  lack  of  all 
appetite,  was  still  at  table,  where,  rumor  said,  she 
was  smearing  her  seventh  slice  of  bread  (thus  each 
turgescible  rumor  thrives  at  court)  with  gold  from 
the  royal  hives.  Through  the  slumberous  pare, 
under  arching  trees,  to  her  labors  went  singing  the 
maid  Denise — " 

A  third  broke  in  here,  saying: 

"And  she  sang  of  how  subtle  and  bitter  and 
bright  was  a  beast  brought  forth,  that  was  clad  with 
the  splendor  and  light  of  the  cold  fair  ends  of  the 
north,  like  a  fleshly  blossom  more  white  than  aug- 
menting tempests  that  go,  with  thunder  for  weapon, 


THE  IMAGE  MAKERS  153 

to  ravage  the  strait  waste  fastness  of  snow.  She 
sang  how  that  all  men  on  earth  said,  whether  its 
mistress  at  morn  went  forth  or  waited  till  night, — 
whether  she  strove  through  the  foam  and  wreckage 
of  shallow  and  firth,  or  couched  in  glad  fields  of 
corn,  or  fled  from  all  human  delight, — that  thither 
it  likewise  would  roam." 

Now  a  fourth  began : 

"Thus  sang  Denise,  what  while  the  siccant  sheets 
and  coverlets  that  pillowed  kingly  dreams,  with 
curious  undergarbs  of  royalty,  she  neatly  ranged: 
and  dreamed  not  of  that  doom  which  waited,  yet 
unborn,  to  strike  men  dumb  with  perfect  awe.  As 
when  the  seventh  wave  poises,  and  sunlight  cleaves 
it  through  and  through  with  gold,  as  though  to  gild 
oncoming  death  for  him  that  sees  foredoomed — • 
and,  gasping,  sees  death  high  and  splendid ! — while 
the  tall  wave  bears  down,  and  its  shattering  makes 
an  end  of  him :  thus  poised  the  sable  bird  while  one 
might  count  one,  two,  and  three,  and  four,  and  five, 
and  six,  but  hardly  seven — " 

So  they  continued,  but  Manuel  listened  to  no 
more.  "What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  ?"  he  asked, 
of  Freydis. 

"It  is  an  experimental  incantation,"  she  replied, 
"in  that  it  is  a  bit  of  unfinished  magic  for  which 
the  proper  words  have  not  yet  been  found :  but  be- 
tween now  and  a  while  they  will  be  stumbled  on, 


154  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

and  then  this  rune  will  live  perpetually,  surviving 
all  those  rhymes  that  are  infected  with  thought  and 
intelligent  meanings  such  as  are  repugnant  to  human 
nature." 

"Are  words,  then,  so  important  and  enduring?" 

"Why,  Manuel,  I  am  surprised  at  you !  In  what 
else,  pray,  does  man  differ  from  the  other  animals 
except  in  that  he  is  used  by  words  ?" 

"Now  I  would  have  said  that  words  are  used  by 
men." 

"There  is  give  and  take,  of  course,  but  in  the 
main  man  is  more  subservient  to  words  than  they 
to  him.  Why,  do  you  but  think  of  such  terrible 
words  as  religion  and  duty  and  love,  and  patriotism 
and  art,  and  honor  and  common-sense,  and  of  what 
these  tyrannizing  words  do  to  and  make  of  people !" 

"No,  that  is  chop-logic:  for  words  are  only 
transitory  noises,  whereas  man  is  the  child  of  God, 
and  has  an  immortal  spirit." 

"Yes,  yes,  my  dearest,  I  know  you  believe  that, 
and  I  think  it  is  delightfully  quaint  and  sweet  of 
you.  But,  as  I  was  saying,  a  man  has  only  the 
body  of  an  animal  to  get  experiences  in,  and  the 
brain  of  an  animal  to  think  them  over  with,  so  that 
the  thoughts  and  opinions  of  the  poor  dear  must 
remain  always  those  of  a  more  or  less  intelligent 
animal.  But  his  words  are  very  often  magic,  as 


THE  IMAGE  MAKERS  155 

you  will  comprehend  by  and  by  when  I  have  made 
you  the  greatest  of  image-makers." 

"Well,  well,  but  we  can  let  that  wait  a  bit,"  said 
Manuel. 

And  thereafter  Manuel  talked  with  Freydis,  con- 
fessing that  the  appearance  of  these  magic-workers 
troubled  Manuel.  He  had  thought  it,  he  said,  an 
admirable  thing  to  make  images  that  lived,  until  he 
saw  and  considered  the  appearance  of  these  habitual 
makers  of  images.  They  were  an  ugly  and  rickety, 
short-tempered  tribe,  said  Manuel :  they  were  shift- 
less, spiteful,  untruthful,  and  in  everyday  affairs 
not  far  from  imbecile :  they  plainly  despised  all  per- 
sons who  could  not  make  images,  and  they  appar- 
ently detested  all  those  who  could.  With  Manuel 
they  were  particularly  high  and  mighty,  assuring 
him  that  he  was  only  a  prosperous  and  affected 
pseudo-magician,  and  that  the  harm  done  by  the 
self-styled  thaumaturgist  was  apt  to  be  very  great 
indeed.  What  sort  of  models,  then,  were  these  in- 
sane, mud-moulding  solitary  wasps  for  a  tall  lad 
to  follow  after?  And  if  Manuel  acquired  their  arts 
(he  asked  in  conclusion),  would  he  acquire  their 
traits? 

"The  answer  is  perhaps  no,  and  not  impossibly 
yes,"  replied  Freydis.  "For  by  the  ancient  Tuyla 
mystery  they  extract  that  which  is  best  in  them  to 


156  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

inform  their  images,  and  this  is  apt  to  leave  them 
empty  of  virtue.  But  I  would  have  you  consider 
that  their  best  endures,  whereas  that  which  is  best 
in  other  persons  is  obliterated  on  some  battle-field 
or  mattress  or  gallows.  That  is  why  I  have  been 
thinking  that  this  afternoon — " 

"No,  we  will  let  that  wait  a  bit,  for  I  must  turn 
this  over  in  my  mind,"  said  Manuel,  "and  my  ma- 
ture opinion  about  this  matter  must  be  expressed 
later." 

But  while  his  mind  was  on  the  affair  his  fingers 
made  him  droll  small  images  of  ten  of  the  image- 
makers,  which  he  set  aside  unquickened.  Freydis 
smiled  at  these  caricatures,  and  asked  when  Manuel 
would  give  them  life. 

"Oh,  in  due  time,"  he  said,  "and  then  their  antics 
may  be  diverting.  But  I  perceive  that  this  old 
Tuyla  magic  is  practised  at  great  price  and  danger, 
so  that  I  am  in  no  hurry  to  practise  any  more  of  it. 
I  prefer  to  enjoy  that  which  is  dearer  and  better." 

"And  what  can  be  dearer  and  better?" 

"Youth,"  Manuel  answered,  "and  you." 

Queen  Freydis  was  now  a  human  woman  in  all 
things,  and  so  this  reply  delighted  her  hearing  if 
not  her  reason.  "Do  these  two  possessions  content 
you,  king  of  my  heart  ?"  she  asked  him  very  fondly. 

"No,"  Manuel  said,  gazing  out  across  Morven  at 
the  cloud-dappled  ridges  of  the  Taunenfels,  "nor  do 


THE  IMAGE  MAKERS  157 

I  look  ever  to  be  contented  in  this  world  of  men." 

"Indeed  the  run  of  men  are  poor  thin-minded 
creatures,  Manuel — " 

He  answered,  moodily: 

"But  I  cannot  put  aside  the  thought  that  these 
men  should  be  my  fellows  and  my  intimates.  In- 
stead, I  who  am  a  famed  champion  go  daily  in  dis- 
trust, almost  in  fear,  of  these  incomprehensible  and 
shatter-pated  beings.  To  every  side  there  is  a  feeble 
madness  overbusy  about  long-faced  nonsense  from 
which  I  recoil,  who  must  conceal  this  shrinking  al- 
ways. There  is  no  hour  in  my  life  but  I  go 
armored  in  reserve  and  in  small  lies,  and  in  my 
armor  I  am  lonely.  Freydis,  you  protest  deep  love 
for  this  well-armored  Manuel,  but  what  wisdom  will 
reveal  to  you,  or  to  me  either,  just  what  is  Manuel  ? 
Oh,  but  I  am  puzzled  by  the  impermanence  and  the 
loneliness  and  the  impotence  of  this  Manuel !  Dear 
Freydis,  do  not  love  my  body  nor  my  manner  of 
speaking,  nor  any  of  the  ways  that  I  have  in  the 
flesh,  for  all  these  transiencies  are  mortgaged  to  the 
worms.  And  that  thought  also  is  a  grief — " 

"Let  us  not  speak  of  these  things!  Let  us  not 
think  of  anything  that  is  horrid,  but  only  of  each 
other!" 

"But  I  cannot  put  aside  the  thought  that  I,  who 
for  the  while  exist  in  this  mortgaged  body,  cannot 
ever  get  out  to  you.  Freydis,  there  is  no  way  in 


158  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

which  two  persons  may  meet  in  this  world  of  men : 
we  can  but  exchange,  from  afar,  despairing  friendly 
signals,  in  the  sure  knowledge  they  will  be  misinter- 
preted. So  do  we  pass,  each  coming  out  of  a 
strange  woman's  womb,  each  parodied  by  the  flesh 
of  his  parents,  each  passing  futilely,  with  incom- 
municative gestures,  toward  the  womb  of  a  strange 
grave :  and  in  this  jostling  we  find  no  comradeship. 
No  soul  may  travel  upon  a  bridge  of  words.  In- 
deed there  is  no  word  for  my  foiled  huge  desire  to 
love  and  to  be  loved,  just  as  there  is  no  word  for 
the  big,  the  not  quite  comprehended  thought  which 
is  moving  in  me  at  this  moment.  But  that  thought 
also  is  a  grief — " 

Manuel  was  still  looking  at  the  changing  green 
and  purple  of  the  mountains  and  at  the  tall  clouds 
trailing  northward.  The  things  that  he  viewed 
yonder  were  all  gigantic  and  lovely,  and  they  seemed 
not  to  be  very  greatly  bothering  about  humankind. 

Then  Freydis  said :  "Let  us  not  think  too  much, 
dear,  in  our  youth.  It  is  such  a  waste  of  the  glad 
time,  and  of  the  youth  that  will  not  ever  be  return- 
ing-" 

"But  I  cannot  put  aside  the  thought  that  it  will 
never  be  the  true  Manuel  whom  you  will  love  or 
even  know  of,  nor  can  I  dismiss  the  knowledge  that 
these  human  senses,  through  which  alone  we  may 
obtain  any  knowledge  of  each  other,  are  lying  mes- 


THE  IMAGE  MAKERS  159 

sengers.  What  can  I  ever  be  to  you  except  flesh 
and  a  voice  ?  Nor  is  this  the  root  of  my  sorrowing, 
dear  Freydis.  For  I  know  that  my  distrust  of  all 
living  creatures — oh,  even  of  you,  dear  Freydis, 
when  I  draw  you  closest, — must  always  be  as  a  wall 
between  us,  a  low,  lasting,  firm-set  wall  which  we 
can  never  pull  down.  And  I  know  that  I  am  not 
really  a  famed  champion,  but  only  a  forlorn  and 
lonely  inmate  of  the  doubtful  castle  of  my  body; 
and  that  I,  who  know  not  truly  what  I  am,  must  die 
in  this  same  doubt  and  loneliness  behind  the  strong 
defences  of  posturing  and  bluntness  and  jovial 
laughter  which  I  have  raised  for  my  protecting. 
And  that  thought  also  is  a  grief/' 

Now  Manuel  was  as  Freydis  had  not  ever  seen 
him.  She  wondered  at  him,  she  was  perturbed  by 
this  fine  lad's  incomprehensible  dreariness  with  soft 
red  willing  lips  so  near :  and  her  dark  eyes  were  bent 
upon  him  with  a  beautiful  and  tender  yearning 
which  may  not  be  told. 

"I  do  not  understand  you,  my  dearest,"  said  she, 
who  was  no  longer  the  high  Queen  of  Audela,  but 
a  mortal  woman.  "It  is  true  that  all  the  world 
about  us  is  a  false  seeming,  but  you  and  I  are  real 
and  utterly  united,  for  we  have  no  concealments 
from  each  other.  And  I  am  sure  that  no  two  people 
could  be  happier  than  we  are,  nor  better  suited. 
And  certainly  such  morbid  notions  are  not  like  you, 


160  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

who,  as  you  said  yourself  only  the  other  day,  are 
naturally  so  frank  and  downright." 

Now  Manuel's  thoughts  came  back  from  the 
clouds  and  the  green  and  purple  of  the  mountains. 
He  looked  at  her  very  gravely  for  an  instant  or  two. 
He  laughed  morosely.  He  said,  "There!" 

"But,  dearest,  you  are  strange  and  not  your- 
self—" 

"Yes,  yes!"  says  Manuel,  kissing  her,  "for  the 
moment  I  had  forgotten  to  be  frank  and  downright, 
and  all  else  which  you  expect  of  me.  Now  I  am 
my  old  candid,  jovial,  blunt  self  again,  and  I  shall 
not  worry  you  with  such  silly  notions  any  more. 
No,  I  am  Manuel :  I  follow  after  my  own  thinking 
and  my  own  desire,  and  if  to  do  that  begets  lone- 
liness I  must  endure  it." 


18. 

Manuel  Chooses 


£  £  TT\  UT  I  cannot  understand,"  said  Freydis,  on 
j  a  fine  day  in  September,  "how  it  is  that, 
now  Schamir  is  at  your  service,  and  you 
have  the  secret  of  giving  life  to  your  images,  you 
do  not  care  to  use  either  the  secret  or  the  talisman. 
For  you  make  no  more  images,  you  are  always  say- 
ing, 'No,  we  will  let  that  wait  a  bit/  and  you  do 
not  even  quicken  the  ten  caricatures  of  the  image- 
makers  which  you  have  already  modeled." 

"Life  will  be  given  to  these  in  due  time,"  said 
Manuel,  "but  that  time  is  not  yet  come.  Mean-* 
while,  I  avoid  practise  of  the  old  Tuyla  mystery 
for  the  sufficing  reason  that  I  have  seen  the  result 
it  has  on  the  practitioner.  A  geas  was  upon  me  to 
make  a  figure  in  the  world,  and  so  I  modeled  and 
loaned  life  to  such  a  splendid  gay  young  champion 
as  was  to  my  thinking  and  my  desire.  Thus  my 
geas,  I  take  it,  is  discharged,  and  a  thing  done  has 
an  end.  Heaven  may  now  excel  me  by  creating  a 
larger  number  of  living  figures  than  I,  but  pre- 
eminence in  this  matter  is  not  a  question  of  arith- 
metic— •" 

161 


162  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Ah,  yes,  my  squinting  boy  has  all  the  virtues, 
including  that  of  modesty!" 

"Well,  but  I  have  seen  my  notion  embodied,  seen 
it  take  breath,  seen  it  depart  from  Morven  in  all 
respects,  except  for  a  little  limping — which,  do  you 
know,  I  thought  rather  graceful? — in  well-nigh  all 
respects,  I  repeat,  quite  indistinguishable  from  the 
embodied  notions  of  that  master  craftsman  whom 
some  call  Ptha,  and  others  Jahveh,  and  others 
Abraxas,  and  yet  others  Koshchei  the  Deathless. 
In  fine,  I  have  made  a  figure  more  admirable  and 
significant  than  is  the  run  of  men,  and  I  rest  upon 
my  laurels." 

"You  have  created  a  living  being  somewhat  above 
the  average,  that  is  true :  but  then  every  woman  who 
has  a  fine  baby  does  just  as  much — " 

"The  principle  is  not  the  same,"  said  Manuel, 
with  dignity. 

"And  why  not,  please,  big  boy?" 

"For  one  thing,  my  image  was  an  original  and 
unaided  production,  whereas  a  baby,  I  am  told,  is 
the  result  of  more  or  less  hasty  collaboration. 
Then,  too,  a  baby  is  largely  chance  work,  in  that  its 
nature  cannot  be  exactly  f oreplanned  and  pre-deter- 
mined  by  its  makers,  who  in  the  glow  of  artistic 
creation  must,  I  imagine,  very  often  fail  to  follow 
the  best  aesthetic  canons." 

"As  for  that,  nobody  who  makes  new  and  unex- 


NOW  MANUEL  CHOOSES  163 

ampled  things  can  make  them  exactly  to  the  maker's 
will.  Even  your  image  limped,  you  remember — " 

"Ah,  but  so  gracefully !" 

" — No,  Manuel,  it  is  only  those  thaumaturgists 
who  evoke  the  dead,  and  bid  the  dead  return  to  the 
warm  flesh,  that  can  be  certain  as  to  the  results  of 
their  sorcery.  For  these  alone  of  wizards  know  in, 
advance  what  they  are  making." 

"Ah,  this  is  news!  So  you  think  it  is  possible 
to  evoke  the  dead  in  some  more  tangible  form  than 
that  of  an  instructive  ghost?  You  think  it  possible 
for  a  dead  girl — or,  as  to  that  matter,  for  a  dead 
boy,  or  a  defunct  archbishop,  or  a  deceased  rag- 
picker,— to  be  fetched  back  to  live  again  in  the 
warm  flesh  ?" 

"All  things  are  possible,  Manuel,  at  a  price." 

Said  Manuel: 

"What  price  would  be  sufficient  to  re-purchase  the 
rich  spoils  of  Death?  and  whence  might  any  bribe 
be  fetched  ?  For  all  the  glowing  wealth  and  beauty 
of  this  big  round  world  must  show  as  a  new-minted 
farthing  beside  his  treasure  chests,  as  one  slight 
shining  unimportant  coin  which — even  this  also! — 
belongs  to  Death,  but  has  been  overlooked  by  him 
as  yet.  Presently  this  hour,  and  whatever  is  strut- 
ting through  this  hour,  is  added  to  the  heaped  crypts 
wherein  lie  all  that  was  worthiest  in  the  old  time. 

"Now  there  is  garnered  such  might  and  loveliness 


164  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

and  wisdom  as  human  thinking  cannot  conceive  of. 
An  emperor  is  made  much  of  here  when  he  has  con- 
quered some  part  of  the  world,  but  Death  makes 
nothing  of  a  world  of  emperors:  and  in  Death's 
crowded  store-rooms  nobody  bothers  to  estimate 
within  a  thousand  thousand  of  how  many  emperors, 
and  tzars  and  popes  and  pharaohs  and  sultans,  that 
in  their  day  were  adored  as  omnipotent,  are  there 
assembled  pellmell,  along  with  all  that  was  worthiest 
in  the  old  time. 

"As  touches  loveliness,  not  even  Helen's  beauty 
is  distinguishable  among  those  multitudinous 
millions  of  resplendent  queens  whom  one  finds 
yonder.  Here  are  many  pretty  women,  here  above 
all  is  Freydis,  so  I  do  not  complain.  But 
yonder  is  deep-bosomed  Semiramis,  and  fair-tressed 
Guenevere,  and  Magdalene  that  loved  Christ,  and 
Europa,  the  bull's  laughing  bride,  and  Lilith,  whose 
hot  kiss  made  Satan  ardent,  and  a  many  other  ladies 
by  whose  dear  beauty's  might  were  shaped  the  songs 
which  cause  us  to  remember  all  that  was  worthiest 
in  the  old  time. 

"As  wisdom  goes,  here  we  have  prudent  men  of 
business  able  to  add  two  and  two  together,  and 
justice  may  be  out  of  hand  distinguished  from  in- 
justice by  an  impanelment  of  the  nearest  twelve 
fools.  Here  we  have  many  Helmases  a-cackling 
wisely  under  a  goose- feather.  But  yonder  are  Cato 


NOW  MANUEL  CHOOSES  165 

and  Nestor  and  Merlin  and  Socrates,  Abelard  sits 
with  Aristotle  there,  and  the  seven  sages  confer 
with  the  major  prophets,  and  yonder  is  all  that  was 
worthiest  in  the  old  time. 

"All,  all,  are  put  away  in  Death's  heaped  store- 
rooms, so  safely  put  away  that  opulent  Death  may 
well  grin  scornfully  at  Life :  for  everything  belongs 
to  Death,  and  Life  is  only  a  mendicant  scratching 
at  his  sores  so  long  as  Death  permits  it.  No, 
Freydis,  there  can  be  no  bribing  Death !  For  what 
bribe  anywhere  has  Life  to  offer  which  Death  has 
not  already  lying  disregarded  in  a  thousand  dusty 
coffers  along  with  all  that  was  worthiest  in  the  old 
time?" 

Freydis  replied :  "One  thing  alone.  Yes,  Man- 
uel, there  is  one  thing  only  which  all  Death's  ravish- 
ings  have  never  taken  from  Life,  and  which  has  not 
ever  entered  into  Death's  keeping.  It  is  through 
weighing  this  fact,  and  through  doing  what  else  is 
requisite,  that  the  very  bold  may  bring  back  the 
dead  to  live  again  in  the  warm  flesh." 

"Well,  but  I  have  heard  the  histories  of  pre- 
sumptuous men  who  attempted  to  perform  such 
miracles,  and  all  these  persons  sooner  or  later  came 
to  misery." 

"Why,  to  be  sure !  to  whom  else  would  you  have 
them  coming?"  said  Freydis.  And  she  explained 
the  way  it  was. 


166  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Manuel  put  many  questions.  All  that  evening  he 
was  thoughtful,  and  he  was  unusually  tender  with 
Freydis.  And  that  night  when  Freydis  slept,  Dom 
Manuel  kissed  her  very  lightly,  then  blinked  his 
eyes,  and  for  a  moment  covered  them  with  his  hand. 
Standing  thus,  the  tall  boy  queerly  moved  his 
mouth,  as  though  it  were  stiff  and  he  were  trying 
to  make  it  more  supple. 

Then  he  armed  himself,  and  he  crept  out  of  their 
modest  magic  home  and  went  down  into  Bellegarde, 
and  stole  a  horse  from  Duke  Asmund's  stables. 

And  that  night,  and  all  the  next  day,  Dom  Man- 
uel rode  away  from  Morven,  and  away  from  the 
house  of  jasper  and  porphyry  and  violet  and  yellow 
breccia,  and  away  from  Freydis,  who  had  put  off 
immortality  for  his  kisses.  He  travelled  north- 
ward, toward  the  high  woods  of  Dun  Vlechlan, 
where  the  leaves  were  aglow  with  the  funereal 
flames  of  autumn:  for  the  summer  wherein  Dom 
Manuel  and  Freydis  had  been  happy  together  was 
now  as  dead  as  that  estranged  queer  time  which  he 
had  shared  with  Alianora. 


70. 

The  Head  of  Misery 


WHEN  Manuel  had  reached  the  outskirts  of 
the  forest  he  encountered  there  a  knight 
in  vermilion  armor,  with  a  woman's  sleeve 
wreathed  about  his  helmet:  and,  first  of  all,  this 
knight  demanded  who  was  Manuel's  lady  love. 

"I  have  no  living  love,"  said  Manuel,  "except  the 
woman  whom  I  am  leaving  without  ceremony,  be- 
cause it  seems  the  only  way  of  avoiding  argument." 

"But  that  is  unchivalrous,  and  does  not  look 
well." 

"Very  probably  you  are  right,  but  I  am  not 
chivalrous.  I  am  Manuel.  I  follow  after  my  own 
thinking,  and  an  obligation  is  upon  me  pointing 
toward  prompt  employment  of  the  knowledge  I  have 
gained  from  this  woman." 

"You  are  a  rascally  betrayer  of  women,  then,  and 
an  unmanly  scoundrel." 

"Yes,  I  suppose  so,  for  I  betrayed  another 
woman,  in  that  I  permitted  and  indeed  assisted  her 
to  die  in  my  stead ;  and  so  brought  yet  another  bond 
upon  myself,  and  an  obligation  which  is  drawing 

167 


168  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

me  from  a  homelike  place  and  from  soft  arms 
wherein  I  was  content  enough,"  says  Manuel,  sigh- 
ing. 

But  the  chivalrous  adventurer  in  red  armor  was 
disgusted.  "Oh,  you  tall  squinting  villain  knight, 
I  wonder  from  whose  court  you  can  be  coming, 
where  they  teach  no  better  behavior  than  woman- 
killing,  and  I  wonder  what  foul  new  knavery  you 
can  be  planning  here." 

"Why,  I  was  last  in  residence  at  Raymond 
Berenger's  court,"  says  Manuel :  "and  since  you  are 
bent  on  knowing  about  my  private  affairs,  I  come 
to  this  forest  in  search  of  Beda,  or  Kruchina,  or 
whatever  you  call  the  Misery  of  earth  in  these 
parts." 

"Aha,  and  are  you  one  of  Raymond  Berenger's 
friends?" 

"Yes,  I  suppose  so,"  says  Manuel,  blinking, — 
"yes,  I  suppose  so,  since  I  have  prevented  his  being 
poisoned." 

"This  is  good  hearing,  for  I  have  always  been 
one  of  Raymond  Berenger's  enemies,  and  all  such 
of  his  friends  as  I  have  encountered  I  have  slain." 

"Doubtless  you  have  your  reasons,"  said  Manuel, 
and  would  have  ridden  by. 

But  the  other  cried  furiously,  "Turn,  you  tall 
fool !  Turn,  cowardly  betrayer  of  women !" 

He  came  upon  Manuel  like  a  whirlwind,   and 


THE  HEAD  OF  MISERY  169 

Manuel  had  no  choice  in  the  matter.  So  they 
fought,  and  presently  Manuel  brought  the  vermilion 
knight  to  the  ground,  and,  dismounting,  killed  him. 
It  was  noticeable  that  from  the  death-wound  came 
no  blood,  but  only  a  flowing  of  very  fine  black  sand, 
out  of  which  scrambled  and  hastily  scampered  away 
a  small  vermilion-colored  mouse. 

Then  Manuel  said,  "I  think  that  this  must  be  the 
peculiarly  irrational  part  of  the  forest,  to  which  I 
was  directed,  and  I  wonder  what  may  have  been  this 
scarlet  squabbler's  grievance  against  King  Raymond 
Berenger?" 

Nobody  answered,  so  Manuel  remounted,  and 
rode  on. 

Count  Manuel  skirted  the  Wolflake,  and  came  to 
a  hut,  painted  gray,  that  stood  clear  of  the  ground, 
upon  the  bones  of  four  great  birds'  feet.  Upon  the 
four  corners  of  the  hut  were  carved  severally  the 
figures  of  a  lion,  a  dragon,  a  cockatrice  and  an 
adder,  to  proclaim  the  miseries  of  carnal  and  in- 
tellectual sin,  and  of  pride,  and  of  death. 

Here  Manuel  tethered  his  horse  to  a  holm-oak. 
He  raised  both  arms,  facing  the  East. 

"Do  you  now  speed  me!"  cried  Manuel,  "ye 
thirty  Barami!  O  all  ye  powers  of  accumulated 
merit,  O  most  high  masters  of  Almsgiving,  of 
Morality,  of  Relinquishment,  of  Wisdom,  of  Forti- 
tude, of  Patience,  of  Truth,  of  Determination,  of 


170  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Charity,  and  of  Equanimity!  do  all  you  aid  me  in 
my  encounter  with  the  Misery  of  earth !" 

He  piously  crossed  himself,  and  went  into  the  hut. 
Inside,  the  walls  were  adorned  with  very  old-look- 
ing frescoes  that  were  equally  innocent  of  perspec- 
tive and  reticence :  the  floor  was  of  tessellated 
bronze.  In  each  corner  Manuel  found,  set  upright, 
a  many-storied  umbrella  of  the  sort  used  for  sacred 
purposes  in  the  East :  each  of  these  had  a  silver 
handle,  and  was  worked  in  nine  colors.  But  most 
important  of  all,  so  Manuel  had  been  told,  was  the 
pumpkin  which  stood  opposite  to  the  doorway. 

Manuel  kindled  a  fire,  and  prepared  the  proper 
kind  of  soup :  and  at  sunset  he  went  to  the  window 
of  the  hut,  and  cried  out  three  times  that  supper 
was  ready. 

One  answered  him,  "I  am  coming." 

Manuel  waited.  There  was  now  no  sound  in  the 
forest :  even  the  few  birds  not  yet  gone  south,  that 
had  been  chirping  of  the  day's  adventures,  were 
hushed  on  a  sudden,  and  the  breeze  died  in  the  tree- 
tops.  Inside  the  hut  Manuel  lighted  his  four 
candles,  and  he  disposed  of  one  under  each  umbrella 
in  the  prescribed  manner.  His  footsteps  on  the 
bronze  flooring,  and  the  rustling  of  his  garments  as 
he  went  about  the  hut  doing  what  was  requisite, 
were  surprisingly  sharp  and  distinct  noises  in  a  vast 
silence  and  in  an  illimitable  loneliness. 


THE  HEAD  OF  MISERY  171 

Then  said  a  thin  little  voice,  "Manuel,  open  the 
door!" 

Manuel  obeyed,  and  you  could  see  nobody  any- 
where in  the  forest's  dusk.  The  twilit  brown 
and  yellow  trees  were  still  as  paintings.  His  horse 
stood  tethered  and  quite  motionless,  except  that  it 
was  shivering. 

One  spoke  at  his  feet.  "Manuel,  lift  me  over  the 
threshold!" 

Dom  Manuel,  recoiling,  looked  downward,  and 
in  the  patch  of  candlelight  between  the  shadows  of 
his  legs  you  could  see  a  human  head.  He  raised  the 
head,  and  carried  it  into  the  hut.  He  could  now 
perceive  that  the  head  was  made  of  white  clay,  and 
could  deduce  that  the  Misery  of  earth,  whom  some 
call  Beda,  and  others  Kruchina,  had  come  to  him. 

"Now,  Manuel,"  says  Misery,  "do  you  give  me 
my  supper." 

So  Manuel  set  the  head  upon  the  table,  and  put 
a  platter  of  soup  before  the  head,  and  fed  the  soup 
to  Misery  with  a  gold  spoon. 

When  the  head  had  supped,  it  bade  Manuel  place 
it  in  the  little  bamboo  cradle,  and  told  Manuel  to 
put  out  the  lights.  Many  persons  would  not  have 
fancied  being  alone  in  the  dark  with  Misery,  but 
Manuel  obeyed.  He  knelt  to  begin  his  nightly 
prayer,  but  at  once  that  happened  which  induced 
him  to  desist.  So  without  his  usual  divine  invoca- 


172  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

tion,  Dom  Manuel  lay  down  upon  the  bronze  floor 
of  the  hut,  beneath  one  of  the  tall  umbrellas,  and  he 
rolled  up  his  russet  cloak  for  a  pillow.  Presently 
the  head  was  snoring,  and  then  Manuel  too  went  to 
sleep.  He  said,  later,  that  he  dreamed  of  Niafer. 


20. 

The  Month  of  Years 


IN  the  morning,  after  doing  the  head's  ex-. 
traordinary  bidding,  Manuel  went  to  feed  hia 
horse,  and  found  tethered  to  the  holm-oak  the 
steed's  skeleton  picked  clean.  "I  grieve  at  this," 
said  Manuel,  "but  I  consider  it  wiser  to  make  no 
complaint."  Indeed,  there  was  nobody  to  complain 
to,  for  Misery,  after  having  been  again  lifted  over 
the  threshold,  had  departed  to  put  in  a  day's  labor 
with  the  plague  in  the  north. 

Thereafter  Manuel  abode  in  this  peculiarly  irra- 
tional part  of  the  forest,  serving  Misery  for,  as  men 
in  cheerier  places  were  estimating  the  time,  a  month 
and  a  day.  Of  these  services  it  is  better  not  to 
speak.  But  the  head  was  pleased  by  Manuel's  ser- 
vices, because  Misery  loves  company:  and  the  two 
used  to  have  long  friendly  talks  together  when 
Manuel's  services  and  Misery's  work  for  that  day 
were  over. 

"And  how  came  you,  sir,  to  be  thus  housed  in  a 
trunkless  head?"  asked  Manuel,  one  time. 

"Why,  when  Jahveh  created  man  on  the  morning 
of  the  sixth  day,  he  set  about  fashioning  me  that 

173 


174  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

afternoon  from  the  clay  which  was  left  over.  But 
he  was  interrupted  by  the  coming  of  the  Sabbath, 
for  Jahveh  was  in  those  days,  of  course,  a  very 
orthodox  Jew.  So  I  was  left  incomplete,  and  must 
remain  so  always." 

"I  deduce  that  you,  then,  sir,  are  Heaven's  last 
crowning  work,  and  the  final  finishing  touch  to 
creation.'* 

"So  the  pessimists  tell  me,"  the  clay  head  as- 
sented, with  a  yawn.  "But  I  have  had  a  hard  day 
of  it,  what  with  the  pestilence  in  Glathion,  and  the 
wars  between  the  Emperor  and  the  Milanese,  and 
all  these  October  colds,  so  we  will  talk  no  more 
philosophy." 

Thus  Manuel  served  the  head  of  Misery,  for  a 
month  of  days  and  a  day.  It  was  a  noticeable 
peculiarity  of  this  part  of  the  forest — a  peculiarity 
well  known  to  everybody,  though  not  quite  unani- 
mously explained  by  the  learned, — that  each  day 
which  one  spent  therein  passed  as  a  year,  so  that 
Dom  Manuel  in  appearance  now  aged  rapidly. 
This  was  unfortunate,  especially  when  his  teeth  be- 
gan to  fail  him,  because  there  were  no  dentists 
handy,  but  his  interest  in  the  other  Plagues  which 
visited  this  forest  left  Manuel  little  time  wherein  to 
think  about  private  worries.  For  Beda  was  visited 
by  many  of  his  kindred,  such  as  Mitlan  and  Kali 
and  Thragnar  and  Pwyll  and  Apepi  and  other  evil 


THE  MONTH  OF  YEARS  175 

principles,  who  were  perpetually  coming  to  the  gray 
hut  for  family  reunions,  and  to  rehearse  all  but  one 
of  the  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  spells  of 
the  Capuas.  And  it  was  at  this  time  that  Manuel 
got  his  first  glimpse  of  Sclaug,  with  whom  he  had 
such  famous  troubles  later. 

So  sped  the  month  of  days  that  passed  as  years. 
Little  is  known  as  to  what  happened  in  the  gray 
hut,  but  that  perhaps  is  a  good  thing.  Dom  Manuel 
never  talked  about  it.  But  this  much  is  known,  that 
all  day  the  clay  head  would  be  roving  about  the 
world,  carrying  envious  reports,  and  devouring 
kingdoms,  and  stirring  up  patriotism  and  reform, 
and  whispering  malefic  counsel,  and  bringing  hurt 
and  sorrow  and  despair  and  evil  of  every  kind  to 
men:  and  that  in  the  evening,  when  Phobetor  took 
over  this  lamentable  work  at  sunset,  Beda  would 
return  contentedly  to  Dun  Vlechlan  for  Manuel's 
services  and  a  well  earned  night's  rest.  On  most 
evenings  there  was  unspeakable  company,  but  none 
of  these  stayed  overnight.  And  after  each  night 
passed  alone  with  Misery,  the  morning  would  find 
Manuel  older  looking. 

"I  wonder,  sir,  at  your  callousness,  and  at  the 
cheery  way  in  which  you  go  about  your  dreadful 
business,"  said  Manuel,  once,  after  he  had  just 
cleansed  the  dripping  jaws. 

"Ah,  but  since  I  am  all  head  and  no  heart,  there- 


176  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

fore  I  cannot  well  pity  the  human  beings  whom  I 
harass  as  a  matter  of  allotted  duty." 

"That  seems  plausible,"  says  Manuel,  "and  I  per- 
ceive that  if  appearances  are  to  be  trusted  you  are 
not  personally  to  blame.  Still,  I  cannot  but  wonder 
why  the  world  of  men  should  thus  be  given  over  to 
Misery  if  Koshchei  the  Deathless,  who  made  all 
things  as  they  are,  has  any  care  for  men." 

"As  to  what  goes  on  overhead,  Manuel,  you  must 
inquire  of  others.  There  are  persons  in  charge,  I 
know,  but  they  have  never  yet  permitted  Misery  to 
enter  into  their  high  places,  for  I  am  not  popular 
with  them,  and  fhat  is  the  truth." 

"I  can  understand  that,  but  nevertheless  I  wonder 
why  Misery  should  have  been  created  to  feed  upon 
mankind." 

"Probably  the  cows  and  sheep  and  chickens  in 
your  barnyards,  and  the  partridges  and  rabbits  in 
your  snares,  and  even  the  gasping  fish  upon  your 
hook,  find  time  to  wonder  in  the  same  way  about 
you,  Dom  Manuel." 

"Ah,  but  man  is  the  higher  form  of  life — " 

"Granting  that  remarkable  assumption,  and  is 
any  man  above  Misery?  So  you  see  it  is  logical  I 
should  feed  on  you." 

"Still,  I  believe  that  the  Misery  of  earth  was  de- 
vised as  a  trial  and  a  testing  to  fit  us  for  some 
nobler  and  eternal  life  hereafter." 


THE  MONTH  OF  YEARS  177 

"Why  in  this  world  should  you  think  that  ?"  the 
head  inquired,  with  real  interest. 

"Because  I  have  an  immortal  spirit,  sir,  and — " 

"Dear  me,  but  all  this  is  very  remarkable. 
Where  is  it,  Manuel?" 

"It  is  inside  me  somewhere,  sir/* 

"Come,  then,  let  us  have  it  out,  for  I  am  curious 
to  see  it." 

"No,  it  cannot  get  out  exactly,  sir,  until  I  am 
dead." 

"But  what  use  will  it  be  to  you  then?"  said 
Misery :  "and  how  can  you,  who  have  not  ever  been 
dead,  be  certain  as  to  what  happens  when  one  is 
dead?" 

"Well,  I  have  always  heard  so,  sir." 

The  head  shook  itself  dubiously.  "Now  from 
whom  of  the  Leshy,  I  wonder,  can  you  have  been 
hearing  such  fantastic  stories?  I  am  afraid  some- 
body has  been  making  fun  of  you,  Manuel." 

"Oh,  no,  sir,  this  is  a  tenet  held  by  the  wisest  and 
most  admirable  of  men." 

"I  see :  it  was  some  other  man  who  told  you  all 
these  drolleries  about  the  eternal  importance  of 
mankind,"  the  head  observed,  with  an  unaccount- 
able slackening  of  interest.  "I  see :  and  again,  you 
may  notice  that  the  cows  and  the  sheep  and  the 
chickens,  also,  resent  extinction  strenuously." 

"But  these  are  creatures  of  the  earth,  sir,  whereas 


178  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

there  is  about  at  any  rate  some  persons  a  whiff  of 
divinity.     Come  now,  do  you  not  find  it  so?" 

The  head  looked  graver.  "Yes,  Manuel,  most 
young  people  have  in  them  a  spark  which  is  divine, 
but  it  is  living  that  snuffs  this  out  of  all  of  you,  by 
and  large,  without  bothering  Grandfather  Death  to 
unpeel  spirits  like  bananas.  No,  the  most  of  you 
go  with  very  little  spirit,  if  any,  into  the  grave,  and 
assuredly  with  not  enough  spirit  to  last  you  forever. 
No,  Manuel,  no,  I  never  quarrel  with  religion,  be- 
cause it  is  almost  the  strongest  ally  I  have,  but  these 
religious  notions  rather  disgust  me  sometimes,  for 
if  men  were  immortal  Misery  would  be  immortal, 
and  I  could  never  survive  that." 

"Now  you  are  talking  nonsense,  sir,"  said  Man- 
uel, stoutly,  "and  of  all  sorts  of  nonsense  cynical 
nonsense  is  the  worst." 

"By  no  means,"  replied  the  head,  "since,  plainly, 
it  is  far  worse  nonsense  to  assert  that  omnipotence 
would  insanely  elect  to  pass  eternity  with  you  hu- 
mans. No,  Manuel,  I  am  afraid  that  your  queer 
theory,  about  your  being  stuffed  inside  with  per- 
manent material  and  so  on,  does  not  very  plausibly 
account  for  either  your  existence  or  mine,  and  that 
we  both  stay  riddles  without  answers." 

"Still,  sir,"  said  Manuel,  "inasmuch  as  there  is 
one  thing  only  which  all  death's  ravishings  have 


THE  MONTH  OF  YEARS  179 

never  taken  from  life,  and  that  thing  is  the  Misery 
of  earth—" 

"Your  premiss  is  indisputable,  but  what  do  you 
deduce  from  this?" 

Manuel  smiled  slowly  and  sleepily.  "I  deduce, 
sir,  that  you,  also,  who  have  not  ever  been  dead, 
cannot  possibly  be  certain  as  to  what  happens  when 
one  is  dead.  And  so  I  shall  stick  to  my  own  opinion 
about  the  life  to  come." 

"But  your  opinion  is  absurd,  on  the  face  of  it." 

"That  may  very  well  be,  sir,  but  it  is  much  more 
comfortable  to  live  with  than  your  opinion,  and  liv- 
ing is  my  occupation  just  now.  Dying  I  shall  at- 
tend to  in  its  due  turn,  and,  of  the  two,  my  opinion 
is  the  more  pleasant  to  die  with.  And  thereafter, 
if  your  opinion  be  right,  I  shall  never  even  know 
that  my  opinion  was  wrong:  so  that  I  have  every- 
thing to  gain,  in  the  way  of  pleasurable  anticipa- 
tions anyhow,  and  nothing  whatever  to  lose,  by 
clinging  to  the  foolish  fond  old  faith  which  my 
fathers  had  before  me,"  said  Manuel,  as  sturdily  as 
ever. 

"Yes,  but  how  in  this  world—" 

"Ah,  sir,"  says  Manuel,  still  smiling,  "in  this 
world  men  are  nourished  by  their  beliefs,  and  it  well 
may  be  that  yonder  also  the  fare  is  the  same." 

But  at  this  moment  came  Reeri  (a  little  crimson 


180  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

naked  man,  having  the  head  of  a  monkey)  with 
his  cock  in  one  hand  and  his  club  in  the  other :  and 
the  Blood  Demon's  arrival  of  course  put  an  end  to 
the  talking  for  that  turn. 


Touching 


SO  Count  Manuel's  youth  went  out  of  him  as  he 
became  more  and  more  intimate  with  Misery, 
and  an  attachment  sprang  up  between  them, 
and  the  two  took  counsel  as  to  all  Manuel's  affairs. 
They  often  talked  of  the  royal  ladies  whom  Manuel 
had  loved  and  loved  no  longer. 

"For  at  one  time,"  Manuel  admitted,  "I  certainly 
fancied  myself  in  love  with  the  Princess  Alianora, 
and  at  another  time  I  was  in  love  with  Queen 
Freydis.  And  even  now  I  like  them  well  enough, 
but  neither  of  these  royal  ladies  could  make  me  for- 
get the  slave  girl  Niafer  whom  I  loved  on  Vraidex. 
Besides,  the  Princess  and  the  Queen  were  fond  of 
having  their  own  way  about  everything,  and  they 
were  bent  on  hampering  me  with  power  and  wealth 
and  lofty  station  and  such  other  obstacles  to  the 
following  of  my  own  thinking  and  my  own  desires. 
I  could  not  endure  the  eternal  arguing  this  led  to, 
which  was  always  reminding  me,  by  contrast,  of  the 
quiet  dear  ways  of  Niafer  and  of  the  delight  I  had 
in  the  ways  of  Niafer.  So  it  seemed  best  for  every- 

181 


182  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

one  concerned  for  me  to  break  off  with  Freydis  and 
Alianora." 

"As  for  these  women/'  the  head  estimated,  "you 
may  be  for  some  reasons  well  rid  of  them.  Yet 
this  Alianora  has  fine  eyes  and  certain  powers." 

"She  is  a  princess  of  the  Apsarasas,"  Manuel  re- 
plied, "and  therefore  she  has  power  over  the  butter- 
flies and  the  birds  and  the  bats,  and  over  all 
creatures  of  the  air.  I  know,  because  she  has  dis- 
closed to  me  some  of  the  secrets  of  the  Apsarasas. 
But  over  her  own  tongue  and  temper  the  Princess 
Alianora  has  no  power  and  no  control  whatever,  and 
if  I  had  married  her  she  would  have  eventually 
pestered  me  into  being  a  king,  and  giving  my  life 
over  to  politics  and  the  dominion  of  men." 

"This  Freydis,  too,  has  beautiful  black  hair — and 
certain  powers — " 

"She  was  once  Queen  of  Audela,  and  therefore 
she  retains  power  over  all  figures  of  earth.  I  know, 
because  she  has  disclosed  to  me  some  of  the  secrets 
of  Audela.  But  the  worst  enemy  of  Freydis  also 
goes  in  red,  and  is  housed  by  the  little  white  teeth 
of  Freydis,  for  it  was  this  enemy  that  betrayed  her : 
and  if  I  had  married  her  she  would  have  coaxed  me 
by  and  by  into  becoming  a  great  maker  of  images, 
and  giving  my  life  over  to  such  arts." 

Misery  said:  "You  have  had  love  from  these 
women,  you  have  gained  power  and  knowledge  from 


TOUCHING  REPAYMENT  183 

these  women.  Therefore  you  leave  them,  to  run 
after  some  other  woman  who  can  give  you  no  power 
and  knowledge,  but  only  a  vast  deal  of  trouble.  It 
is  not  heroic,  Manuel,  but  it  is  human,  and  your 
reasoning  is  well  fitted  to  your  time  of  life." 

"It  is  true  that  I  am  young  as  yet,  sir — " 

"No,  not  so  very  young,  for  my  society  is  matur- 
ing you,  and  already  you  are  f oreplanning  and  talk- 
ing the  follies  of  a  man  in  middle  life." 

"No  matter  what  my  age  may  come  to  be,  sir,  I 
shall  always  remember  that  when  I  first  set  up  as 
a  champion,  and  was  newly  come  from  living 
modestly  in  attendance  upon  the  miller's  pigs,  I 
loved  the  slave  girl  Niafer.  She  died.  I  did  not 
die.  Instead,  I  relinquished  Niafer  to  Grandfather 
Death,  and  at  that  price  I  preserved  my  own  life  and 
procured  a  recipe  through  which  I  have  prospered 
unbelievably,  so  that  I  am  to-day  a  nobleman  with 
fine  clothes  and  lackeys,  and  with  meadow-lands  and 
castles  of  my  own,  if  only  I  could  obtain  them.  So 
I  no  longer  go  ragged  at  the  elbows,  and  royal  ladies 
look  upon  me  favorably,  and  I  find  them  well 
enough.  But  the  joy  I  took  in  Niafer  is  not  to  be 
found  in  any  of  these  things." 

"That  too  is  an  old  human  story,"  the  head  said, 
"and  yours  is  a  delusion  that  comes  to  most  men 
in  middle  life.  However,  for  a  month  of  years  you 
have  served  me  faithfully,  except  for  twice  having 


184  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

failed  to  put  enough  venom  in  my  soup,  and  for  hav- 
ing forgotten  to  fetch  in  any  ice  that  evening  the 
Old  Black  One  was  here.  Still,  nobody  is  perfect, 
your  time  of  service  is  out,  and  I  must  repay  you 
as  need  is.  Will  you  have  happiness,  then,  and  an 
eternal  severance  between  you  and  me  ?" 

"I  have  seen  but  one  happy  person,"  Manuel  re- 
plied. "He  sat  in  a  dry  ditch,  displaying  vacant 
glittering  eyes,  and  straws  were  tangled  in  his  hair, 
but  Tom  o'  Bedlam  was  quite  happy.  No,  it  is  not 
happiness  I  desire." 

The  head  repeated:  "You  have  served  me.  I 
repay,  as  need  is,  with  the  payment  you  demand. 
What  is  it  you  demand  ?" 

Dom  Manuel  said,  "I  demand  the  Niafer  that  was 
a  slave  girl,  and  is  now  a  ghost  in  her  pagan  para- 
dise." 

"Do  you  think,  then,  that  to  recall  the  dead  is 
possible  ?" 

"You  are  cunning,  sir,  but  I  remember  what 
Freydis  told  me.  Will  you  swear  that  Misery  can- 
not bring  back  the  dead  ?" 

"Very  willingly  will  I  swear  to  it  upon  all  the 
most  authentic  relics  in  Christendom." 

"Ah,  yes,  but  will  you  rest  one  of  your  cold  hard 
pointed  ears  against" — here  Manuel  whispered  what 
he  did  not  care  to  name  aloud — "the  while  that  you 
swear  to  it." 


TOUCHING  REPAYMENT  185 

"Of  course  not/'  Misery  answered,  sullenly: 
"since  every  troubled  ghost  that  ever  gibbered  and 
clanked  chains  would  rise  confronting  me  if  I  made 
such  an  oath.  Yes,  Manuel,  I  am  able  to  bring 
back  the  dead,  but  prudence  forces  me  to  lie  about 
my  power,  because  to  exercise  that  power  to  the  full 
would  be  well-nigh  as  ruinous  as  the  breaking  of 
that  pumpkin.  For  there  is  only  one  way  to  bring 
back  the  dead  in  flesh,  and  if  I  follow  that  way  I 
shall  lose  my  head  as  all  the  others  have  done." 

"What  is  that  to  a  lover  ?"  says  Manuel. 

The  head  sighed,  and  bit  at  its  white  lips.  "An 
oath  is  an  oath  to  the  Leshy.  Therefore  do  you, 
who  are  human,  now  make  profitable  use  of  the 
knowledge  and  of  the  power  you  got  from  these 
other  women  by  breaking  oaths !  And  as  you  have 
served  me,  so  will  I  serve  you." 

Manuel  called  black  eagles  to  him,  in  the  manner 
the  Princess  Alianora  had  taught,  and  he  sent  them 
into  all  parts  of  the  world  for  every  sort  of  white 
earth.  They  obeyed  the  magic  of  the  Apsarasas, 
and  brought  Dom  Manuel  from  Britain  the  earth 
that  is  called  leucargillon,  and  they  brought  gliso- 
marga  from  Enisgarth,  and  eglecopala  from  the 
Gallic  provinces,  and  argentaria  from  Lacre  Kai, 
and  white  earth  of  every  description  from  all  parts 
of  the  world. 

Manuel  made  from  this  earth,  as  Queen  Freydis 


186  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

had  taught  him  how  to  do,  the  body  of  a  woman. 
He  fashioned  the  body  peculiarly,  in  accordance 
with  the  old  Tuyla  mystery,  and  the  body  was  as 
perfect  as  Manuel  could  make  it,  in  all  ways  save 
that  it  had  no  head. 

Then  Manuel  sent  a  gold-crested  wren  into  Pro- 
vence: it  entered  through  an  upper  window  of  the 
King's  marmoreal  palace,  and  went  into  the  Princess 
Alianora's  chamber,  and  fetched  hence  a  handker- 
chief figured  with  yellow  mulberries  and  wet  with 
the  tears  which  Alianora  had  shed  in  her  grieving 
for  Manuel.  And  Dom  Manuel  sent  also  a  falcon, 
which  returned  to  him  with  Queen  Freydis'  hand- 
kerchief. That  was  figured  with  white  fleurs-de-lis, 
and  that  too  was  drenched  with  tears. 

Whereupon,  all  being  in  readiness,  Misery  smiled 
craftily,  and  said : 

"In  the  time  that  is  passed  I  have  overthrown 
high  kings  and  prophets,  and  sorcerers  also,  as  when 
Misery  half  carelessly  made  sport  of  Mithridates 
and  of  Merlin  and  of  Moses,  in  ways  that  ballad- 
singers  still  delight  to  tell  of.  But  with  you,  Dom 
Manuel,  I  shall  deal  otherwise,  and  I  shall  discon- 
cert you  by  and  by  in  a  more  quiet  fashion.  Hoh, 
I  must  grapple  carefully  with  your  love  for  Niafer, 
as  with  an  antagonist  who  is  not  scrupulous,  nor 
very  sensible,  but  who  is  exceedingly  strong.  For 
observe :  you  obstinately  desire  this  perished  heathen 


TOUCHING  REPAYMENT  187 

woman,  who  in  life,  it  well  may  be,  was  nothing 
remarkable.  Therefore  you  have  sought  Misery, 
you  have  dwelt  for  a  month  of  years  with  terror, 
you  have  surrendered  youth,  you  are  planning  to 
defy  death,  you  are  intent  to  rob  the  deep  grave  and 
to  despoil  paradise.  Truly  your  love  is  great." 

Manuel  said  only,  "An  obligation  is  upon  me,  for 
the  life  of  Niafer  was  given  to  preserve  my  life." 

"Now  I,  whom  some  call  Beda,  and  others 
Kruchina,  and  whom  for  the  present  your  love  has 
conquered — I  it  is  alone  who  can  obtain  for  you 
this  woman,  because  in  the  long  run  I  overcome  all 
things  and  persons.  Life  is  my  province,  and  the 
birth  cry  of  every  infant  is  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
.me.  Thus  I  am  overlord  where  all  serve  willy-nilly 
except  you,  who  have  served  of  your  own  will. 
And  as  you  have  served  me,  so  must  I  serve  you." 

Manuel  said,  "That  is  well." 

"It  is  not  so  well  as  you  think,  for  when  you  have 
this  Niafer  I  shall  return  to  you  in  the  appearance 
of  a  light  formless  cloud,  and  I  shall  rise  about  you, 
not  suddenly  but  a  little  by  a  little.  So  shall  you 
see  through  me  the  woman  for  love  of  whom  your 
living  was  once  made  high-hearted  and  fearless,  and 
for  whose  sake  death  was  derided,  and  paradise 
was  ransacked :  and  you  will  ask  forlornly,  'Was 
it  for  this?'  Throughout  the  orderly,  busied,  un- 
important hours  that  stretch  between  your  dressing 


188  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

for  the  day  and  your  undressing  for  the  night,  you 
will  be  asking  this  question  secretly  in  your  heart, 
while  I  pass  everywhither  with  you  in  the  appear- 
ance of  a  light  formless  cloud,  and  whisper  to  you 
secretly." 

"And  what  will  you  whisper  to  me?" 

"Not  anything  which  you  will  care  to  repeat  to 
anybody  anywhere.  Oh,  you  will  be  able  to  endure 
it,  and  you  will  be  content,  as  human  contentment 
goes,  and  my  triumph  will  not  be  public.  But  none 
the  less,  I  shall  have  overthrown  my  present  con- 
queror, and  I  shall  have  brought  low  the  love  which 
terror  and  death  did  not  affright,  and  which  the  laws 
of  earth  could  not  control;  and  I,  whom  some  call 
Beda,  and  others  Kruchina,  will  very  terribly  attest 
that  the  ghost  of  outlived  and  conquered  misery  is 


common-sense." 


"That  is  to-morrow's  affair,"  replied  Dom  Man- 
uel. "To-day  there  is  an  obligation  upon  me,  and 
my  dealings  are  with  to-day." 

Then  Manuel  bound  the  clay  head  of  Misery  in 
the  two  handkerchiefs  which  were  wet  with  the 
tears  of  Alianora  and  of  Freydis.  When  the  cock 
had  crowed  three  times,  Dom  Manuel  unbound  the 
head,  and  it  was  only  a  shapeless  mass  of  white  clay, 
because  of  the  tears  of  Freydis  and  Alianora. 

Manuel  modeled  in  this  clay,  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  the  head  of  Niafer,  as  he  remembered  her 


TOUCHING  REPAYMENT  189 

when  they  had  loved  each  other  upon  Vraidex :  and 
after  the  white  head  was  finished  he  fitted  it  to  the 
body  which  he  had  made  from  the  other  sorts  of 
white  earth.  Dom  ^lanuel  robed  this  body  in 
brown  drugget  such  as  Niaf er  had  been  used  to  wear 
in  and  about  the  kitchen  at  Arnaye,  and  he  did  the 
other  things  that  were  requisite,  for  this  was  the 
day  of  All  Saints  when  nothing  sacred  ought  to  be 
neglected. 


22. 

Return  of  Niafer 


NOW  the  tale  tells  how  Dom  Manuel  sat  at 
the  feet  of  the  image  and  played  upon  a 
flageolet.  There  was  wizardry  in  the  music, 
Dom  Manuel  said  afterward,  for  he  declared  that 
it  evoked  in  him  a  vision  and  a  restless  dreaming 
that  followed  after  Misery. 

So  this  dreaming  showed  that  when  Misery  was 
dispossessed  of  the  earth  he  entered  (because 
Misery  is  unchristian)  into  the  paradise  of  the 
pagans,  where  Niafer,  dead  now  for  something  over 
a  year,  went  restlessly  in  bliss:  and  Misery  came 
shortly  afterward  to  Niafer,  and  talked  with  her 
in  a  thin  little  voice.  She  listened  willingly  to  this 
talk  of  Manuel  and  of  the  adventures  which  Niafer 
had  shared  with  Manuel :  and  now  that  she  remem- 
bered Manuel,  and  his  clear  young  face  and  bright 
unequal  eyes  and  his  strong  arms,  she  could  no 
longer  be  even  moderately  content  in  the  paradise 
of  the  pagans. 

Thereafter  Misery  went  about  the  heathens'  para- 
dise in  the  appearance  of  a  light  formless  cloud. 
And  the  fields  of  this  paradise  seemed  less  green, 

190 


RETURN  OF  NIAFER  191 

the  air  became  less  pure  and  balmy,  and  the  sky  less 
radiant,  and  the  waters  of  the  paradisal  river 
Eridanus  grew  muddy.  The  poets  became  tired  of 
hearing  one  another  recite,  the  heroes  lost  delight  in 
their  wrestling  and  chariot  racing  and  in  their  exer- 
cises with  the  spear  and  the  bow.  "How  can  any- 
body expect  us  to  waste  eternity  with  recreations 
which  are  only  fitted  to  waste  time?"  they  de- 
manded. 

And  the  lovely  ladies  began  to  find  the  handsome 
lovers  with  whom  they  wandered  hand  in  hand 
through  never-fading  groves  of  myrtle,  and  with 
whom  they  were  forever  reunited,  rather  tedious 
companions. 

"I  love  you,"  said  the  lovers. 

"You  have  been  telling  me  that  for  twelve  cen- 
turies/' replied  the  ladies,  yawning,  "and  too  much 
of  anything  is  enough." 

"Upon  my  body,  I  think  so  too,"  replied  the 
lover.  "I  said  it  only  out  of  politeness  and  force 
of  habit,  and  I  can  assure  you  I  am  as  tired  of  this 
lackadaisical  idiocy  as  you  are." 

So  everything  was  at  sixes  and  sevens  in  this  para- 
dise: and  when  the  mischief-maker  was  detected, 
the  blessed  held  a  meeting,  for  it  was  now  the  day 
of  All  Souls,  on  which  the  dead  have  privilege. 

"We  must  preserve  appearances,"  said  these  dead 
pagans,  "and  can  have  only  happy  looking  persons 


192  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

hereabouts,  for  otherwise  our  paradise  will  get  a 
poor  name,  and  the  religion  of  our  fathers  will  fall 
into  disrepute." 

So  they  thrust  Misery  and  Niafer  also  out  of  the 
pagan  paradise,  because  Misery  clung  to  Niafer  in 
the  appearance  of  a  light  formless  cloud,  and  there 
was  no  separating  the  two. 

These  two  turned  earthward  together,  and  came 
to  the  river  of  sweat  called  Rigjon.  Niafer  said  to 
the  fiery  angel  Sandal f on  that  guards  the  bridge 
there,  "The  Misery  of  earth  is  with  me." 

Sandalfon  saw  that  this  was  so,  and  said,  "My 
fires  cannot  consume  the  Misery  of  earth." 

They  came  to  Hadarniel,  the  noisy  angel  whose 
whispering  is  the  thunder.  Niafer  said,  "The 
Misery  of  earth  is  with  me." 

Hadarniel  replied,  "Before  the  Misery  of  earth  I 
am  silent." 

They  came  to  Kemuel  and  his  twelve  thousand 
angels  of  destruction  that  guard  the  outermost  gate- 
way. Niafer  said,  "The  Misery  of  earth  is  with 
me." 

Kemuel  answered,  "I  ruin  and  make  an  end  of  all 
things  else,  but  for  the  Misery  of  earth  I  have  con- 
trived no  ending." 

So  Misery  and  Niafer  passed  all  the  warders  of 
this  paradise :  and  in  a  dim  country  on  the  world's 


RETURN  OF  NIAFER  193 

rim  the  blended  spirit  of  Misery  and  the  ghost  of 
Niafer  rose  through  a  hole  in  the  ground,  like  an 
imponderable  vapor.  They  dissevered  each  from 
the  other  in  a  gray  place  overgrown  with  poplars, 
and  Misery  cried  farewell  to  Niafer. 

"And  very  heartily  do  I  thank  you  for  your  kind- 
ness, now  that  we  part,  and  now  that,  it  may  be,  I 
shall  not  ever  see  you  again,"  said  Niafer,  politely. 

And  Misery  replied : 

"Take  no  fear  for  not  seeing  me  again,  now  that 
you  are  about  once  more  to  become  human.  Cer- 
tainly, Niafer,  I  must  leave  you  for  a  little  while, 
but  certainly  I  shall  return.  There  will  first  be  for 
you  much  kissing  and  soft  laughter,  and  the  quiet 
happy  ordering  of  your  home,  and  the  heart-shak- 
ing wonder  of  the  child  who  is  neither  you  nor 
Manuel,  but  both  of  you,  and  whose  like  was  not 
ever  seen  before  on  earth:  and  life  will  burgeon 
with  white  miracles,  and  every  blossom  you  will  take 
to  be  eternal.  Laughing,  you  will  say  of  sorrow, 
'What  is  it?'  And  I,  whom  some  call  Beda,  and 
others  call  Kruchina,  shall  be  monstrously  amused 
by  this. 

"Then  your  seeing  will  have  my  help,  and  you 
will  observe  that  Manuel  is  very  much  like  other 
persons.  He  will  be  used  to  having  you  about,  and 
you  him,  and  that  will  be  the  sorry  bond  between 


194  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

you.  The  children  that  have  reft  their  flesh  from 
your  flesh  ruthlessly,  and  have  derived  their  living 
from  your  glad  anguish,  each  day  will  be  appearing 
a  little  less  intimately  yours,  until  these  children  find 
their  mates.  Thereafter  you  will  be  a  tolerated  in- 
truder into  these  children's  daily  living,  and  nobody 
anywhere  will  do  more  than  condone  your  coming: 
you  will  weep  secretly :  and  I,  whom  some  call  Beda, 
and  others  call  Kruchina,  shall  be  monstrously 
amused  by  this. 

"Then  I  shall  certainly  return  to  you,  when  your 
tears  are  dried,  and  when  you  no  longer  believe  what 
young  Niafer  once  believed;  and  when,  remember- 
ing young  Niafer's  desires  and  her  intentions  as  to 
the  disposal  of  her  life,  you  will  shrug  withered 
shoulders.  To  go  on  living  will  yet  remain  desir- 
able, to  be  sure,  but  the  dilapidations  of  life  will  no 
longer  move  you  deeply.  Shrugging,  you  will  say 
of  sorrow,  'What  is  it  ?'  for  you  will  know  even  grief 
to  be  impermanent.  And  your  inability  to  be  quite 
miserable  any  more  will  assure  you  that  your  goings 
are  attended  by  the  ghost  of  outlived  and  conquered 
misery :  and  I,  whom  some  call  Beda,  and  others  call 
Kruchina,  shall  be  monstrously  amused  by  this." 

Said  Niafer,  impatiently,  "Do  you  intend  to  keep 
me  here  forever  under  these  dark  twinkling  trees, 
with  your  thin  little  talking,  while  Manuel  stays  un- 
happy through  his  want  of  me?" 


RETURN  OF  NIAFER  195 

And  Misery  answered  nothing  as  he  departed 
from  Niafer,  for  a  season. 

Such  were  the  happenings  in  the  vision  witnessed 
by  Dom  Manuel  (as  Dom  Manuel  afterward  de- 
clared) while  he  sat  playing  upon  the  flageolet. 


Manuel  Gets  His  Desire 


NOW  the  tale  tells  that  all  this  while,  at  the 
gray  hut  in  Dun  Vlechlan,  in  the  peculiarly 
irrational  part  of  the  forest,  lay  the  earthen 
image  of  Niaf  er :  and  gray  Dom  Manuel — no  longer 
the  florid  boy  who  had  come  into  Dun  Vlechlan, — 
sat  at  the  feet  of  the  image,  and  played  upon  a  flag- 
eolet the  air  which  Suskind  had  taught  him,  and  with 
which  he  had  been  used  to  call  young  Suskind  from 
her  twilit  places  when  Manuel  was  a  peasant  tending 
swine.  Now  Manuel  was  an  aging  nobleman,  and 
Niafer  was  now  a  homeless  ghost,  but  the  tune  had 
power  over  them,  none  the  less,  for  its  burden  was 
young  love  and  the  high-hearted  time  of  youth ;  so 
that  the  melody  which  once  had  summoned  Suskind 
from  her  low  red-pillared  palace  in  the  doubtful  twi- 
light, now  summoned  Niafer  resistlessly  from  para- 
dise, as  Manuel  thriftily  made  use  of  the  odds  and 
ends  which  he  had  learned  from  three  women  to 
win  him  a  fourth. 

The  spirit  of  Niafer  entered  at  the  mouth  of  the 
image.  Instantly  the  head  sneezed,  and  said,  "I  am 
unhappy."  But  Manuel  kept  on  playing.  The 

196 


HE  GETS  HIS  DESIRE  197 

spirit  descended  further,  bringing  life  to  the  lungs 
and  the  belly,  so  that  the  image  then  cried,  "I  am 
hungry."  But  Manuel  kept  on  playing.  So  the 
soul  was  drawn  further  and  further,  until  Manuel 
saw  that  the  white  image  had  taken  on  the  colors 
of  flesh,  and  was  moving  its  toes  in  time  to  his  play- 
ing, and  so  knew  that  the  entire  body  was  informed 
with  life. 

He  cast  down  the  flageolet,  and  touched  the  breast 
of  the  image  with  the  ancient  formal  gestures  of 
the  old  Tuyla  mystery,  and  he  sealed  the  mouth  of 
the  image  with  a  kiss,  so  that  the  spirit  of  Niafer 
was  imprisoned  in  the  image  which  Manuel  had 
made.  Under  his  lips  the  lips  which  had  been 
Misery's  cried,  "I  love."  And  Niafer  rose,  a  living 
girl  just  such  as  Manuel  had  remembered  for  more 
than  a  whole  year :  but  with  that  kiss  all  memories 
of  paradise  and  all  the  traits  of  angelhood  departed 
from  her. 

"Well,  well,  dear  snip,"  said  Manuel,  the  first 
thing  of  all,  "now  it  is  certainly  a  comfort  to  have 
you  back  again." 

Niafer,  even  in  the  rapture  of  her  happiness, 
found  this  an  unimpassioned  greeting  from  one  who 
had  gone  to  unusual  lengths  to  recover  her  com- 
panionship :  staring,  she  saw  that  Manuel  had  all  the 
marks  of  a  man  in  middle  life,  and  spoke  as  became 
appearances.  For  it  was  at  the  price  of  his  youth 


198  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

that  Manuel  had  recovered  the  woman  whom  his 
youth  desired:  and  Misery  had  subtly  evened 
matters  by  awarding  an  aging  man  the  woman  for 
whose  sake  a  lad  had  fearlessly  served  Misery. 
There  was  no  longer  any  such  lad,  for  the  conquered 
had  destroyed  the  conqueror. 

Then,  after  a  moment's  consideration  of  this  tall 
gray  stranger,  Niafer  also  looked  graver  and  older, 
and  Niafer  asked  for  a  mirroi  :  and  Manuel  had 
none. 

"Now  but  certainly  I  must  know  at  once  just 
how  faithfully  you  have  remembered  me,"  says 
Niafer. 

So  they  went  out  into  the  naked  and  desolate 
November  forest,  and  they  came  to  the  steel-colored 
Wolflake  hard  by  the  gray  hut:  and  Niafer  found 
she  was  limping,  for  Manuel  had  not  got  her  legs 
quite  right,  so  that  for  the  rest  of  her  second  life 
she  was  lame.  Then  Niafer  gazed  for  a  minute  at 
her  reflection  in  the  deep  cold  waters  of  the  Wolf- 
lake. 

"Is  this  as  near  as  you  have  come  to  remember- 
ing me,  my  dearest!"  she  said,  dejectedly,  as  she 
looked  down  at  Manuel's  notion  of  her  face.  For 
the  appearance  which  Niafer  now  wore  she  found 
to  be  very  little  like  that  which  Niafer  remembered 
as  having  been  hers,  in  days  wherein  she  had  been 
tolerably  familiar  with  the  Lady  Gisele's  mirrors; 


HE  GETS  HIS  DESIRE  199 

and  it  was  a  grief  to  Niafer  to  see  how  utterly  the 
dearest  dead  go  out  of  mind  in  no  long  while. 

"I  have  forgotten  not  one  line  or  curve  of  your 
features,"  says  Manuel,  stoutly,  "in  all  these  months, 
nor  in  any  of  these  last  days  that  have  passed  as 
years.  And  when  my  love  spurred  me  to  make 
your  image,  Niafer,  my  love  loaned  me  unwonted 
cunning.  Even  by  ordinary,  they  tell  me,  I  have 
some  skill  at  making  images :  and  while  not  for  a 
moment  would  I  seem  to  boast  of  that  skill,  and 
not  for  worlds  would  I  annoy  you  by  repeating  any 
of  the  complimentary  things  which  have  been  said 
about  my  images, — by  persons  somewhat  more  ap- 
preciative, my  dear,  of  the  toil  and  care  that  goes 
to  work  of  this  sort, — I  certainly  think  that  in  this 
instance  nobody  has  fair  reason  to  complain." 

She  looked  at  his  face  now :  and  she  noted  what 
the  month  of  living  with  Beda,  with  whom  a  day  is 
as  a  year,  had  done  to  the  boy's  face  which  she 
remembered.  Count  Manuel's  face  was  of  re- 
modeled stuff:  youth  had  gone  out  of  it,  and  the 
month  of  years  had  etched  wrinkles  in  it,  success 
had  hardened  and  caution  had  pinched  and  self- 
complacency  had  kissed  it.  And  Niafer  sighed 
again,  as  they  sat  reunited  under  leafless  trees  by 
the  steel-colored  Wolflake. 

"There  is  no  circumventing  time  and  death,  then, 
after  all,"  said  Niafer,-  "for  neither  of  us  is  HOW 


200  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

the  person  that  ascended  Vraidex.  No  matter:  I 
love  you,  Manuel,  and  I  am  content  with  what  re- 
mains of  you:  and  if  the  body  you  have  given  me 
is  to  your  will  it  is  to  my  will." 

But  now  three  rascally  tall  ragged  fellows,  each 
blind  in  one  eye,  and  each  having  a  thin  peaked 
beard,  came  into  the  opening  before  the  gray  hut, 
trampling  the  dead  leaves  there  as  they  shouted  for 
Mimir.  "Come  out!"  they  cried:  "come  out,  you 
villain  Mimir,  and  face  those  three  whom  you  have 
wronged !" 

Dom  Manuel  rose  from  the  bank  of  the  Wolflake, 
and  went  toward  the  shouters.  "There  is  no  Mi- 
mir," he  told  them,  "in  Dun  Vlechlan,  or  not  at 
least  in  this  peculiarly  irrational  part  of  the  forest." 

"You  lie,"  they  said,  "for  even  though  you  have 
hitched  a  body  to  your  head  we  recognize  you  per- 
fectly." They  looked  at  Niafer,  and  all  three 
laughed  cruelly.  "Was  it  for  this  hunched,  drag- 
gled, mud-faced  wench  that  you  left  us,  you  squint- 
ing old  villain?  And  have  you  so  soon  forgotten 
the  vintner's  parlor  at  Neogreant,  and  what  you  did 
with  the  .gold  plates?" 

"No,  I  have  not  forgotten  these  things,  for  I 
never  knew  anything  about  them,"  said  Manuel. 

Said  one  of  the  knaves,  twirling  fiercely  his  mous- 
tachios:  "Hah,  shameless  Mimir,  do  you  look  at 
me,  who  have  known  you  and  your  blind  son 


HE  GETS  HIS  DESIRE  201 

Oriander,  too,  to  be  unblushing  knaves  for  these 
nine  centuries !  And  I  suppose  you  will  be  denying 
the  affair  of  the  squirrel  also?" 

"Oh,  be  off  with  your  nonsense!"  says  Manuel, 
"for  I  have  not  yet  had  twenty-two  years  of  living, 
and  I  never  saw  you  before,  and  I  hope  never  to 
see  you  again." 

But  they  all  set  upon  him  with  cutlasses,  so  there 
was  nothing  remaining  save  to  have  out  his  sword 
and  fight.  And  when  each  of  these  one-eyed  per- 
sons had  vanished  curiously  under  his  death-wound, 
Manuel  told  Niafer  it  was  a  comfort  to  find  that 
the  month  of  years  had  left  him  a  fair  swordsman 
for  all  that  his  youth  was  gone ;  and  that  he  thought 
they  had  better  be  leaving  this  part  of  the  high 
woods  of  Dun  Vlechlan,  wherein  unaccountable 
things  took  place,  and  all  persons  behaved  unreason- 
ably. 

"Were  these  wood  spirits  unreasonable,"  asks 
Niafer,  "in  saying  that  the  countenance  and  the 
body  you  have  given  me  are  ugly?" 

"My  dear,"  replied  Manuel,  "it  was  their  saying 
that  which  made  me  try  to  avoid  the  conflict,  be- 
cause it  does  not  look  well,  not  even  in  dealing  with 
demons,  to  injure  the  insane." 

"Manuel,  and  can  it  be  you  who  are  considering 
appearances  ?" 

Dom  Manuel  said  gravely:     "My  dealings  with 


202  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Misery  and  with  Misery's  kindred  have  taught  me 
many  things  which  I  shall  never  forget  nor  very 
willingly  talk  about.  One  of  these  teachings, 
though,  is  that  in  most  affairs  there  is  a  middle  road 
on  which  there  is  little  traffic  and  comparatively  easy 
going.  I  must  tell  you  that  the  company  I  have 
been  in  required  a  great  deal  of  humoring,  for  of 
course  it  is  not  safe  to  trifle  with  any  evil  principle. 
No,  no,  one  need  not  absolutely  and  openly  defy 
convention,  I  perceive,  in  order  to  follow  after  one's 
own  thinking,"  says  Manuel,  shrewdly,  and  wag- 
gling a  gray  beard. 

"I  am  so  glad  you  have  learned  that  at  last.  At 
least,  I  suppose  that  I  am  glad,"  said  Niafer,  a  little 
wistfully,  as  she  recalled  young  Manuel  of  the  high 
head. 

"But,  as  I  was  saying,  I  now  estimate  that  these 
tattered  persons  who  would  have  prevented  my 
leaving,  as  well  as  the  red  fellow  that  would  have 
hindered  my  entering,  this  peculiarly  irrational  part 
of  the  forest,  were  spiritual  intruders  into  Misery's 
domain  whom  Misery  had  driven  out  of  their  wits. 
No,  Niafer,  I  voice  no  criticism,  because  with  us 
two  this  Misery  of  earth,  whom  some  call  Beda,  and 
others  Kruchina,  has  dealt  very  handsomely.  It 
troubles  me  to  suspect  that  he  was  also  called  Mimir, 
but  of  this  we  need  not  speak,  because  a  thing  done 
has  an  end,  even  a  killed  grandfather.  Neverthe- 


HE  GETS  HIS  DESIRE  203 

less,  I  think  that  Dun  Vlechlan  is  unwholesome, 
and  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  you  and  I  will  be  more 
comfortable  elsewhere." 

"But  must  we  go  back  to  looking  after  pigs,  dear 
Manuel,  or  are  you  now  too  old  for  that?" 

Dom  Manuel  smiled,  and  you  saw  that  he  re- 
tained at  least  his  former  lordliness.  "No,  now 
that  every  obligation  is  lifted,  and  we  are  reunited, 
dear  snip,  I  can  at  last  go  traveling  everywhither, 
so  that  I  may  see  the  ends  of  this  world  and  judge 
them.  And  we  will  do  whatever  else  we  choose, 
for,  as  I  must  tell  you,  I  am  now  a  nobleman  with 
lackeys  and  meadow-lands  and  a  castle  of  my  own, 
if  only  I  could  obtain  possession  of  it." 

"This  is  excellent  hearing,"  said  Niafer,  "and 
much  better  than  pig-tending,  and  I  am  glad  that 
the  world  has  had  sense  enough  to  appreciate  you, 
Manuel,  and  you  it.  And  we  will  have  rubies  in  my 
coronet,  because  I  always  fancied  them.  Now  do 
you  tell  me  how  it  all  happened,  and  what  I  am  to 
be  called  countess  of.  And  we  will  talk  about  that 
traveling  later,  for  I  have  already  traveled  a  great 
distance  to-day,  but  we  must  certainly  have  rubies." 


24. 

Three  Women 


SO  Manuel  put  on  his  armor,  and  with  Manuel 
telling  as  much  as  he  thought  wise  of  the  ad- 
ventures he  had  encountered  while  Niafer  was 
dead,  they  left  this  peculiarly  irrational  part  of  the 
forest,  and  fared  out  of  the  ruined  November 
woods:  and  presently,  in  those  barren  fields  that 
descend  toward  the  sand  dunes  of  Wissant,  came 
face  to  face  with  Queen  Freydis  and  the  Princess 
Alianora,  where  these  two  royal  ladies  and  many 
other  fine  people  rode  toward  the  coast. 

Alianora  went  magnificently  this  morning,  on  a 
white  horse,  and  wearing  a  kirtle  of  changeable 
green  like  the  sea's  green  in  sunlight:  her  golden 
hair  was  bound  with  a  gold  frontlet  wherein  were 
emeralds.  Freydis,  dark  and  stately,  was  in  crim- 
son embroidered  with  small  gold  stars  and  ink- 
horns  :  a  hooded  falcon  sat  on  her  gloved  wrist. 

Now  Freydis  and  Alianora  stared  at  the  swarthy, 
flat-faced,  limping  peasant  girl  in  brown  drugget 
that  was  with  Count  Manuel.  Then  Alianora 
stared  at  Freydis. 

"Is  it  for  this  dingy  cripple,"  says  Alianora,  with 
204 


AS  TO  THREE  WOMEN  205 

her  proud  fine  face  all  wonder,  "that  Dom  Manuel 
has  forsaken  us  and  has  put  off  his  youth?  Why, 
the  girl  is  out  and  out  ugly !" 

"Our  case  is  none  the  better  for  that,"  replied 
Freydis,  the  wise  Queen,  whose  gazing  rested  not 
upon  Niafer  but  on  Manuel. 

"Who  are  those  disreputable  looking,  bold-faced 
creatures  that  are  making  eyes  at  you?"  says  Niafer. 

And  Manuel,  marveling  to  meet  these  two  sor- 
ceresses together,  replied,  as  he  civilly  saluted  them 
from  a  little  distance,  "Two  royal  ladies,  who  would 
be  well  enough  were  it  not  for  their  fondness  for 
having  their  own  way." 

"And  I  suppose  you  think  them  handsome !" 

"Yes,  Niafer,  I  find  them  very  beautiful.  But 
after  looking  at  them  with  aesthetic  pleasure,  my 
gaze  returns  adoringly  to  the  face  I  have  created 
as  I  willed,  and  to  the  quiet  love  of  my  youth,  and 
I  have  no  occasion  to  be  thinking  of  queens  and 
princesses.  Instead,  I  give  thanks  in  my  heart  that 
I  am  faring  contentedly  toward  the  nearest  priest 
with  the  one  woman  in  the  world  who  to  my  finding 
is  desirable  and  lovely." 

"It  is  very  sweet  of  you  to  say  that,  Manuel,  and 
I  am  sure  I  hope  you  are  telling  the  truth,  but  my 
faith  would  be  greater  if  you  had  not  rattled  it  off 
so  glibly." 

Then  Alianora  said:     "Greetings,  and  for  the 


206  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

while  farewell,  to  you,  Count  Manuel !  For  all  we 
ride  to  Quentavic,  and  thence  I  am  passing  over 
into  England  to  marry  the  King  of  that  island." 

"Now,  but  there  is  a  lucky  monarch  for  you!" 
says  Manuel,  politely.  He  looked  then  at  Freydis, 
who  had  put  off  immortality  for  his  kisses,  and 
whom  he  had  deserted  to  follow  after  his  own 
thinking:  these  re-encounters  are  always  awkward, 
and  Dom  Manuel  fidgeted  a  little.  He  asked  her, 
"And  do  you  also  go  into  England?" 

She  told  him  very  quietly,  no,  that  she  was  only 
going  to  the  coast,  to  consult  with  three  or  four  of 
the  water-demons  about  enchanting  one  of  the  Red 
Islands,  and  about  making  her  home  there.  She 
had  virtually  decided,  she  told  him,  to  put  a  spell 
upon  Sargyll,  as  it  seemed  the  most  desirable  of 
these  islands  from  what  she  could  hear,  but  she  must 
first  see  the  place.  Queen  Freydis  looked  at  him 
with  rather  embarrassing  intentness  all  the  while, 
but  she  spoke  quite  calmly. 

"Yes,  yes,"  Dom  Manuel  said,  cordially,  "I  dare 
say  you  will  be  very  comfortable  there,  and  I  am 
sure  I  hope  so.  But  I  did  not  know  that  you  two 
ladies  were  acquainted." 

"Indeed,  our  affairs  are  not  your  affairs/'  says 
Freydis,  "any  longer.  And  what  does  it  matter,  on 
this  November  day  which  has  a  thin  sunlight  and 
no  heat  at  all  in  it?  No,  that  girl  yonder  has  to- 


AS  TO  THREE  WOMEN  207 

day.  But  Alianora  and  I  each  had  her  yesterday; 
and  it  may  be  the  one  or  it  may  be  the  other  of  us 
three  who  will  have  to-morrow,  and  it  may  be  also 
that  the  disposal  of  that  to-morrow  will  be  remark- 
able." 

"Very  certainly,"  declared  Alianora,  with  that 
slow,  lovely,  tranquil  smile  of  hers,  "I  shall  have 
my  portion  of  to-morrow.  I  would  have  made  you 
a  king,  and  by  and  by  the  most  powerful  of  all  kings, 
but  you  followed  after  your  own  thinking,  and  cared 
more  for  messing  in  wet  mud  than  for  a  throne. 
Still,  this  nonsense  of  yours  has  converted  you  into 
a  rather  distinguished  looking  old  gentleman,  so 
when  I  need  you  I  shall  summon  you,  with  the 
token  that  we  know  of,  Dom  Manuel,  and  then  do 
you  come  post-haste." 

Freydis  said:  "I  would  have  made  you  the 
greatest  of  image-makers,  but  you  followed  after 
your  own  thinking,  and  instead  of  creating  new  and 
godlike  beings  you  preferred  to  resurrect  a  dead 
servant  girl.  Nevertheless  do  I  bid  you  beware  of 
the  one  living  image  you  made,  for  it  still  lives,  and 
it  alone  you  cannot  ever  shut  out  from  your  barred 
heart,  Dom  Manuel :  and  nevertheless  do  I  bid  you 
come  to  me,  Dom  Manuel,  when  you  need  me." 

Manuel  replied,  "I  shall  always  obey  both  of 
you." 

Poor  Niafer  throughout  this  while  said  nothing 


208  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

at  all.  But  she  had  her  private  thoughts,  to  the 
effect  that  neither  of  these  high-and-rnighty  trollops 
was  in  reality  the  person  whom  henceforward  Dom 
Manuel  was  going  to  obey. 

So  the  horns  sounded,  and  the  gay  cavalcade  rode 
on,  toward  Quentavic,  and  as  they  went  young 
Osmund  Heleigh  (Lord  Brudenel's  son)  asked  of 
the  gallant  King  of  Navarre,  "But  who,  sire,  was 
that  time-battered  gray  vagabond,  with  the  rearing 
stallion  on  his  shield  and  the  mud-colored  cripple 
at  his  side,  that  our  Queens  should  be  stopping  for 
a  conference  with  him?" 

King  Thibaut  said  it  was  the  famous  Dom  Man- 
uel of  Poictesme,  who  had  put  away  his  youth  for 
the  sake  of  the  girl  that  was  with  him. 

"Then  is  the  old  man  a  fool  on  every  count,"  de- 
clared Messire  Heleigh,  sighing,  "for  I  have  heard 
of  his  earlier  antics  in  Provence,  and  no  lovelier 
lady  breathes  than  Dame  Alianora." 

"I  consider  Queen  Freydis  to  be  the  handsomer 
of  the  two,"  replied  Thibaut,  "but  certainly  there  is 
no  comparing  either  of  these  inestimable  ladies  with 
Dom  Manuel's  swarthy  drab." 

"She  is  perhaps  some  witch  whose  magic  is  more 
terrible  than  their  magic,  and  has  besotted  this 
ruined  champion  ?" 

"It  is  either  enchantment  or  idiocy,  unless  indeed 
it  be  something  far  higher  than  either."  King 


AS  TO  THREE  WOMEN  209 

Thibaut  looked  grave,  then  shrugged.     "Oy  Dieus! 
even  so,  Queen  Freydis  is  the  more  to  my  taste." 

Thus  speaking,  the  young  King  spurred  his  bay 
horse  toward  Queen  Freydis  (from  whom  he  got 
his  death  a  little  later),  and  all  Alianora's  retinue 
went  westward,  very  royally,  while  Manuel  and 
Niafer  trudged  east.  Much  color  and  much 
laughter  went  one  way,  but  the  other  way  went  con- 
tentment, for  that  while. 


PART  FOUR 
THE  BOOK  OF  SURCHARGE 


TO 

HUGH  WALPOLE. 


"Soe  Manuel  made  all  the  Goddes  that 
we  call  mamettes  and  ydolles,  that  were 
sett  ouer  the  Subiection  of  his  lyf e  tyme : 
and  euery  of  the  goddes  that  Manuel 
wolde  carue  toilesomelie  hadde  in  hys 
Bodie  a  Blemmishe ;  and  in  the  mydle  of 
the  godes  made  he  one  god  of  the  Philis- 
tines." 


Affairs  in  Poictesme 


THEY  of  Poictesme  narrate  how  Manuel  and 
Niafer  traveled  east  a  little  way  and  then 
turned  toward  the  warm  South;  and  how 
they  found  a  priest  to  marry  them,  and  how  Manuel 
confiscated  two  horses.  They  tell  also  how  Manuel 
victoriously  encountered  a  rather  terrible  dragon  at 
La  Fleche,  and  near  Orthez  had  trouble  with  a 
Groach,  whom  he  conquered  and  imprisoned  in  a 
leather  bottle,  but  they  say  that  otherwise  the 
journey  was  uneventful. 

"And  now  that  every  obligation  is  lifted,  and  we 
are  reunited,  my  dear  Niafer,"  says  Manuel,  as  they 
sat  resting  after  his  fight  with  the  dragon,  "we  will, 
I  repeat,  be  traveling  everywhither,  so  that  we  may 
see  the  ends  of  this  world  and  may  judge  them." 

"Dearest,"  replied  Niafer,  "I  have  been  thinking 
about  that,  and  I  am  sure  it  would  be  delightful,  if 
only  people  were  not  so  perfectly  horrid." 

"What  do  you  mean,  dear  snip?" 

"You  see,  Manuel,  now  that  you  have  fetched  me 
back  from  paradise,  people  will  be  saying  you  ought 
to  give  me,  in  exchange  for  the  abodes  of  bliss  from 

213 


214  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

which  I  have  been  summoned,  at  least  a  fairly  com- 
fortable and  permanent  terrestrial  residence.  Yes, 
dearest,  you  know  what  people  are,  and  the  evil- 
minded  will  be  only  too  delighted  to  be  saying 
everywhere  that  you  are  neglecting  an  obvious  duty 
if  you  go  wandering  off  to  see  and  judge  the  ends 
of  this  world,  with  which,  after  all,  you  have  really 
no  especial  concern." 

"Oh,  well,  and  if  they  do?"  says  Manuel,  shrug- 
ging lordlily.  "There  is  no  hurt  in  talking." 

"Yes,  Manuel,  but  such  shiftless  wandering,  into 
uncomfortable  places  that  nobody  ever  heard  of, 
would  have  that  appearance.  Now  there  is  nothing 
I  would  more  thoroughly  enjoy  than  to  go  travel- 
ing about  at  adventure  with  you,  and  to  be  a  coun- 
tess means  nothing  whatever  to  me.  I  am  sure  I 
do  not  in  the  least  care  to  live  in  a  palace  of  my 
own,  and  be  bothered  with  fine  clothes  and  the  re- 
sponsibility of  looking  after  my  rubies,  and  with 
servants  and  parties  every  day.  But  you  see,  dar- 
ling, I  simply  could  not  bear  to  have  people  think- 
ing ill  of  my  dear  husband,  and  so,  rather  than  have 
that  happen,  I  am  willing  to  put  up  with  these 
things." 

"Oh,  oh!"  says  Manuel,  and  he  began  pulling 
vexedly  at  his  little  gray  beard,  "and  does  one 
obligation  beget  another  as  fast  as  this !  Now 
whatever  would  you  have  me  do  ?" 


DEEDS  IN  POICTESME  215 

"Obviously,  you  must  get  troops  from  King 
Ferdinand,  and  drive  that  awful  Asmund  out  of 
Poictesme." 

"Dear  me!"  says  Manuel,  "but  what  a  simple 
matter  you  make  of  it.  Shall  I  attend  to  it  this 
afternoon  ?" 

"Now,  Manuel,  you  speak  without  thinking,  for 
you  could  not  possibly  re-conquer  all  Poictesme  this 
afternoon — " 

"Oh!"  says  Manuel. 

"No,  not  single-handed,  my  darling.  You  would 
first  have  to  get  troops  to  help  you,  both  horse  and 
foot." 

"My  dearest,  I  only  meant — " 

" — Even  then,  it  will  probably  take  quite  a  while 
to  kill  off  all  the  Northmen." 

"Niafer,  will  you  let  me  explain — " 

" — Besides,  you  are  miles  away  from  Poictesme. 
You  could  not  even  manage  to  get  there  this  after- 
noon." 

Manuel  put  his  hand  over  her  mouth.  "Niafer, 
when  I  spoke  of  subjugating  Poictesme  this  after- 
noon I  was  attempting  a  mild  joke.  I  will  never 
any  more  attempt  light  irony  in  your  presence,  for 
I  perceive  that  you  do  not  appreciate  my  humor. 
Meanwhile  I  repeat  to  you,  No,  no,  a  thousand 
times,  no !  To  be  called  Count  of  Poictesme  sounds 
well,  it  strokes  the  hearing :  but  I  will  not  be  set  to 


216  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

root  and  vegetate  in  a  few  hundred  spadefuls  of 
dirt.  No,  for  I  have  but  one  lifetime  here,  and  in 
that  lifetime  I  mean  to  see  this  world  and  all  the 
ends  of  this  world,  that  I  may  judge  them.  And 
I,"  he  concluded,  decisively,  "am  Manuel,  who  fol- 
low after  my  own  thinking  and  my  own  desire." 

Niafer  began  to  weep.  "I  simply  cannot  bear  to 
think  of  what  people  will  say  of  you." 

"Come,  come,  my  dear,"  says  Manuel,  "this  is 
preposterous." 

Niafer  wept. 

"You  will  only  end  by  making  yourself  ill !"  says 
Manuel. 

Niafer  continued  to  weep. 

"My  mind  is  quite  made  up,"  says  Manuel,  "so 
what,  in  God's  name,  is  the  good  of  this?" 

Niafer  now  wept  more  and  more  broken- 
heartedly.  And  the  big  champion  sat  looking  at 
her,  and  his  broad  shoulders  relaxed.  He  viciously 
kicked  at  the  heavy  glistening  green  head  of  the 
dragon,  still  bleeding  uglily  there  at  his  feet,  but 
that  did  no  good  whatever.  The  dragon-queller 
was  beaten.  He  could  do  nothing  against  such 
moisture,  his  resolution  was  dampened  and  his  inde- 
pendence was  washed  away  by  this  salt  flood.  And 
they  say  too  that,  now  his  youth  was  gone,  Dom 
Manuel  began  to  think  of  quietness  and  of  soft 
living  more  resignedly  than  he  acknowledged. 


DEEDS  IN  POICTESME  217 

"Very  well,  then,"  Manuel  says,  by  and  by,  "let 
us  cross  the  Loir,  and  ride  south  to  look  for  your 
infernal  coronet  with  the  rubies  in  it,  and  for  your 
servants  and  for  your  fine  home." 

So  in  the  Christmas  holidays  they  bring  a  fine 
burly  squinting  gray-haired  warrior  to  King  Ferdi- 
nand, in  a  lemon  grove  behind  the  royal  palace. 
Here  the  sainted  King,  duly  equipped  with  his  halo 
and  his  goose-feather,  was  used  to  perform  the 
lesser  miracles  on  Wednesdays  and  Saturdays. 

The  King  was  delighted  by  the  change  in  Man- 
uel's looks,  and  said  that  experience  and  maturity 
were  fine  things  to  be  suggested  by  the  appearance 
of  a  nobleman  in  Manuel's  position.  But,  a  pest! 
as  for  giving  him  any  troops  with  which  to  conquer 
Poictesme,  that  was  quite  another  matter.  The 
King  needed  his  own  soldiers  for  his  own  ends, 
which  necessitated  the  immediate  capture  of  Cor- 
dova. Meanwhile  here  were  the  Prince  de  Gatinais 
and  the  Marquess  di  Paz,  who  also  had  come  with 
this  insane  request,  the  one  for  soldiers  to  help  him 
against  the  Philistines,  and  the  other  against  the 
Catalans. 

"Everybody  to  whom  I  ever  granted  a  fief  seems 
to  need  troops  nowadays,"  the  King  grumbled,  "and 
if  any  one  of  you  had  any  judgment  whatever  you 
would  have  retained  your  lands  once  they  were 
given  you." 


218  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Our  deficiencies,  sire,"  says  the  young  Prince 
de  Gatinais,  with  considerable  spirit,  "have  not  been 
altogether  in  judgment,  but  rather  in  the  support 
afforded  us  by  our  liege-lord." 

This  was  perfectly  true;  but  inasmuch  as  such 
blunt  truths  are  not  usually  flung  at  a  king  and  a 
saint,  now  Ferdinand's  thin  brows  went  up. 

"Do  you  think  so?"  said  the  King.  "We  must 
see  about  it.  What  is  that,  for  example?" 

He  pointed  to  the  pool  by  which  the  lemon-trees 
were  watered,  and  the  Prince  glanced  at  the  yellow 
object  afloat  in  this  pool.  "Sire/'  said  de  Gatinais, 
"it  is  a  lemon  which  has  fallen  from  one  of  the 
trees." 

"So  you  judge  it  to  be  a  lemon.  And  what  do 
you  make  of  it,  di  Paz  ?"  the  King  inquired. 

The  Marquess  was  a  statesman  who  took  few 
chances.  He  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  pool,  and 
looked  at  the  thing  before  committing  himself :  and 
he  came  back  smiling.  "Ah,  sire,  you  have  indeed 
contrived  a  cunning  sermon  against  hasty  judg- 
ment, for,  while  the  tree  is  a  lemon-tree,  the  thing 
that  floats  beneath  it  is  an  orange." 

"So  you,  Marquess,  judge  it  to  be  an  orange. 
And  what  do  you  make  of  it,  Count  of  Poictesme?" 
the  King  asks  now. 

If  di  Paz  took  few  chances,  Manuel  took  none  at 
all.  He  waded  into  the  pool,  and  fetched  out  the 


DEEDS  IN  POICTESME  219 

thing  which  floated  there.  "King,"  says  big  Dom 
Manuel,  sagely  blinking  his  bright  pale  eyes,  "it  is 
the  half  of  an  orange." 

Said  the  King:  "Here  is  a  man  who  is  not 
lightly  deceived  by  the  vain  shows  of  this  world, 
and  who  values  truth  more  than  dry  shoes.  Count 
Manuel,  you  shall  have  your  troops,  and  you  others 
must  wait  until  you  have  acquired  Count  Manuel's 
powers  of  judgment,  which,  let  me  tell  you,  are 
more  valuable  than  any  fief  I  have  to  give." 

So  when  the  spring  had  opened,  Manuel  went  into 
Poictesme  at  the  head  of  a  very  creditable  army, 
and  Dom  Manuel  summoned  Duke  Asmund  to  sur- 
render all  that  country.  Asmund,  who  was  habitu- 
ally peevish  under  the  puckerel  curse,  refused  with 
opprobrious  epithets,  and  the  fighting  began. 

Manuel  had,  of  course,  no  knowledge  of  general- 
ship, but  King  Ferdinand  sent  the  Conde  de  Tohil 
Vaca  as  Manuel's  lieutenant.  Manuel  now  figured 
imposingly  in  gold  armor,  and  the  sight  of  his  shield 
bearing  the  rampant  stallion  and  the  motto  Mundus 
vult  decipi  became  in  battle  a  signal  for  the  more 
prudent  among  his  adversaries  to  distinguish  them- 
selves in  some  other  part  of  the  conflict.  It  was 
whispered  by  backbiters  that  in  counsel  and  in  public 
discourse  Dom  Manuel  sonorously  repeated  the 
orders  and  opinions  provided  by  Tohil  Vaca: 
either  way,  the  official  utterances  of  the  Count  of 


220  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Poictesme  roused  everywhere  the  kindly  feeling 
which  one  reserves  for  old  friends,  so  that  no  harm 
was  done. 

To  the  contrary,  Dom  Manuel  now  developed  an 
invaluable  gift  for  public  speaking,  and  in  every 
place  which  he  conquered  and  occupied  he  made 
powerful  addresses  to  the  surviving  inhabitants  be- 
fore he  had  them  hanged,  exhorting  all  right-think- 
ing persons  to  crush  the  military  autocracy  of  As- 
mund.  Besides,  as  Manuel  pointed  out,  this  was  a 
struggle  such  as  the  world  had  never  known,  in  that 
it  was  a  war  to  end  war  forever,  and  to  ensure 
eternal  peace  for  everybody's  children.  Never,  as 
he  put  it  strikingly,  had  men  fought  for  a  more 
glorious  cause.  And  so  on  and  so  on,  said  he,  and 
these  uplifting  thoughts  had  a  fine  effect  upon  every- 
one. 

"How  wonderfully  you  speak!"  Dame  Niafer 
would  say  admiringly. 

And  Manuel  would  look  at  her  queerly,  and  reply : 
"I  am  earning  your  home,  my  dear,  and  your  ser- 
vants' wages,  and  some  day  these  verbal  jewels  will 
be  perpetuated  in  a  real  coronet.  For  I  perceive 
that  a  former  acquaintance  of  mine  was  right  in 
pointing  out  the  difference  between  men  and  the 
other  animals." 

"Ah,  yes,  indeed !"  said  Niafer,  very  gravely,  and 
not  attaching  any  particular  meaning  to  it,  but 


DEEDS  IN  POICTESME  221 

generally  gathering  that  she  and  Manuel  were  talk- 
ing about  something  edifying  and  pious.  For 
Niafer  was  now  a  devout  Christian,  as  became  a 
Countess  of  Poictesme,  and  nobody  anywhere  enter- 
tained a  more  sincere  reverence  for  solemn  noises. 

"For  instance,"  Dame  Niafer  continued,  "they 
tell  me  that  these  lovely  speeches  of  yours  have  pro- 
duced such  an  effect  upon  the  Philistines  yonder 
that  their  Queen  Stultitia  has  proffered  an  alliance, 
and  has  promised  to  send  you  light  cavalry  and 
battering-rams." 

"It  is  true  she  has  promised  to  send  them,  but 
she  has  not  done  so." 

"None  the  less,  Manuel,  you  will  find  that  the 
moral  effect  of  her  approbation  will  be  invaluable; 
and,  as  I  so  often  think,  that  is  the  main  thing  after 
all—" 

"Yes,  yes,"  says  Manuel,  impatiently,  "we  have 
plenty  of  moral  approbation  and  fine  speaking  here, 
and  in  the  South  we  have  a  saint  to  work  miracles 
for  us,  but  it  is  Asmund  who  has  that  army  of 
splendid  reprobates,  and  they  do  not  value  morality 
and  rhetoric  the  worth  of  an  old  finger-nail." 

So  the  fighting  continued  throughout  that  spring, 
and  in  Poictesme  it  all  seemed  very  important  and 
unexampled,  just  as  wars  usually  appear  to  the  peo- 
ple that  are  engaged  in  them :  and  thousands  of  men 
were  slain,  to  the  regret  of  their  mothers  and  sweet- 


222  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

hearts,  and  very  often  of  their  wives.  And  there 
was  the  ordinary  amount  of  unparalleled  military 
atrocities  and  perfidies  and  ravishments  and  burn- 
ings and  so  on,  and  the  endurers  took  their  agonies 
so  seriously  that  it  is  droll  to  think  of  how  unim- 
portant it  all  was  in  the  outcome. 

For  this  especial  carnage  took  place  so  long  ago 
that  it  is  now  not  worth  the  pains  involved  to  re- 
phrase for  inattentive  hearing  the  combat  of  the 
knights  at  Perdigon,  or  the  once  famous  battle  of 
the  tinkers,  or  to  retell  how  the  inflexible  syndics 
of  Montors  were  imprisoned  in  a  cage  and  slain  by 
mistake ;  nor  to  relate  how  the  Northmen  burned  the 
bridge  of  boats  at  Manneville;  and  how  Asmund 
trod  upon  a  burned-through  beam  at  the  disastrous 
siege  of  £vre,  and  so  fell  thirty  feet  into  the  midst 
of  his  enemies  and  broke  his  leg,  but  dealt  so  valor- 
ously  that  he  got  safe  away;  and  how  at  Lisuarte 
unarmored  peasants  beat  off  Manuel's  followers 
with  scythes  and  pitchforks  and  clubs. 

Time  has  washed  out  the  significance  of  these  old 
heroisms  as  the  color  is  washed  from  flimsy  cloths ; 
so  that  chroniclers  act  wisely  when  they  wave  aside 
with  undipped  pens  the  episode  of  the  brave  Sien- 
nese  and  their  green  poison  at  Bellegarde,  and  the 
doings  of  the  Anti-Pope  there,  and  grudge  the  paper 
needful  to  record  the  remarkable  method  by  which 


DEEDS  IN  POICTESME  223 

gaunt  Tohil  Vaca  levied  a  tax  of  a  livre  on  every 
chimney  in  Poictesme. 

It  is  not  even  possible  nowadays  to  put  warm 
interest  in  those  once  notable  pots  of  blazing  sulphur 
and  fat  and  quicklime  that  were  emptied  over  the 
walls  of  Storisende,  to  the  discomfort  of  Manuel's 
men.  For  although  this  was  a  very  heroic  war, 
with  a  parade  of  every  sort  of  high  moral  principle, 
and  with  the  most  sonorous  language  employed  upon 
both  sides,  it  somehow  failed  to  bring  about  either 
the  reformation  or  the  ruin  of  humankind:  and 
after  the  conclusion  of  the  murdering  and  general 
breakage,  the  world  went  on  pretty  much  as  it  has 
done  after  all  other  wars,  with  a  vague  notion  that 
a  deal  of  time  and  effort  had  been  unprofitably  in- 
vested, and  a  conviction  that  it  would  be  inglorious 
to  say  so. 

Therefore  it  suffices  to  report  that  there  was  much 
killing  and  misery  everywhere,  and  that  in  June  the 
Conde  de  Tohil  Vaca  was  taken,  and  murdered, 
with  rather  horrible  jocosity  which  used  unusually  a 
heated  poker,  and  Manuel's  forces  were  defeated  and 
scattered. 


26. 

Deals  ^with  the  Stork 


NOW  Manuel,  driven  out  of  Poictesme,  went 
with  his  wife  to  Novogath,  which  had  been 
for  some  seven  years  the  capital  of  Philistia. 
Queen  Stultitia,  the  sixtieth  of  that  name  to  rule, 
received  them  friendlily.  She  talked  alone  with 
Manuel  for  a  lengthy  while,  in  a  room  that  was 
walled  with  glazed  tiles  of  faience  and  had  its  ceil- 
ing incrusted  with  moral  axioms,  everywhere  af- 
fixed thereto  in  a  light  lettering  of  tin,  so  as  to  per- 
mit of  these  axioms  being  readily  changed.  Stultitia 
sat  at  a  bronze  reading-desk :  she  wore  rose-colored 
spectacles,  and  at  her  feet  dozed,  for  the  while,  her 
favorite  plaything,  a  blind,  small,  very  fat  white 
bitch  called  Luck. 

The  Queen  still  thought  that  an  alliance  could  be 
arranged  against  Duke  Asmund  as  soon  as  public 
sentiment  could  be  fomented  in  Philistia,  but  that 
would  take  time.  "Have  patience,  my  friend, "  she 
said,  and  that  was  easy  saying  for  a  prosperous 
great  lady  sitting  comfortably  crowned  and  spec- 
tacled in  her  own  palace,  under  her  own  chimneys 

224 


SUMMONS  THE  STORK  225 

and  skylights  and  campaniles  and  domes  and  towers 
and  battlements. 

But  in  the  meanwhile  Manuel  and  Niafer  had 
not  so  much  as  a  cowshed  wherein  to  exercise  this 
recommended  virtue.  So  Manuel  made  inquiries, 
and  learned  that  Queen  Freydis  had  taken  up  her 
abode  on  Sargyll,  most  remote  of  the  Red  Islands. 

"We  will  go  to  Freydis,"  he  told  Niafer. 

"But  surely  not  after  the  way  that  minx  probably 
believes  you  treated  her?"  said  Niafer. 

Manuel  smiled  the  sleepy  smile  that  was  Manuel. 
"I  know  Freydis  better  than  you  know  her,  my 
dear." 

"Yes,  but  can  you  depend  upon  her?" 

"I  can  depend  upon  myself,  and  that  is  more  im- 
portant." 

"But,  Manuel,  you  have  another  dear  friend  in 
England ;  and  in  England,  although  the  Lord  knows 
I  never  want  to  lay  eyes  on  her,  we  might  at  least 
be  comfortable — " 

Manuel  shook  his  head.  "I  am  very  fond 
of  Alianora,  because  she  resembles  me  as  closely 
as  it  is  possible  for  a  woman  to  resemble  a  man. 
That  makes  two  excellent  reasons — one  for  each 
of  us,  snip, — why  we  had  better  not  go  into  Eng- 
land." 

So,  in  their  homeless  condition,  they  resolved  to 
set  out  for  Sargyll, — "to  visit  that  other  dear  friend 


226  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

of  yours,"  as  Niafer  put  it,  in  tones  more  eloquent 
than  Manuel  seemed  quite  to  relish. 

Dame  Niafer,  though,  now  began  to  complain 
that  Manuel  was  neglecting  her  for  all  this  state- 
craft and  fighting  and  speech-making  and  private 
conference  with  fine  ladies;  and  she  began  to  talk 
again  about  what  a  pity  it  was  that  she  and  Manuel 
would  probably  never  have  any  children  to  be  com- 
pany for  Niafer.  Niafer  complained  rather  often 
nowadays,  about  details  which  are  here  irrelevant: 
and  she  was  used  to  -lament  with  every  appearance 
of  sincerity  that,  in  making  the  clay  figure  for 
Niafer  to  live  in,  Manuel  should  have  been  so 
largely  guided  by  the  elsewhere  estimable  qualities 
of  innocence  and  imagination.  It  frequently  put 
her,  she  said,  to  great  inconvenience. 

Now  Manuel  had  been  inquiring  about  this  and 
that  and  the  other  since  his  arrival  in  Novogath, 
and  so  Manuel  to-day  replied  with  lordly  assurance. 
"Yes,  yes,  a  baby  or  two !"  says  Manuel.  "I  think 
myself  that  would  be  an  excellent  idea,  while  we  are 
waiting  for  Queen  Stultitia  to  make  up  her  subjects' 
minds,  and  have  nothing  else  in  particular  to  do — " 

"But,  Manuel,  you  know  perfectly  well — " 

" — And  I  am  sufficiently  versed  in  the  magic  of 
the  Apsarasas  to  be  able  to  summon  the  stork,  who 
by  rare  good  luck  is  already  indebted  to  me — " 

"What  has  the  stork  to  do  with  this?" 


SUMMONS  THE  STORK  227 

"Why,  it  is  he  who  must  bring  the  babies  to  be 
company  for  you." 

"But,  Manuel,"  said  Niafer,  dubiously,  "I  do  not 
believe  that  the  people  of  Rathgor,  or  of  Poictesme 
either,  get  their  babies  from  the  stork." 

"Doubtless,  like  every  country,  they  have  their 
quaint  local  customs.  We  have  no  concern,  how- 
ever, with  these  provincialities  just  now,  for  we  are 
in  Philistia.  Besides,  as  you  cannot  well  have  for- 
gotten, our  main  dependence  is  upon  the  half- 
promised  alliance  with  Queen  Stultitia,  who  is,  as 
far  as  I  can  foresee,  my  darling,  the  only  monarch 
anywhere  likely  to  support  us." 

"But  what  has  Queen  Stultitia  to  do  with  my 
having  a  baby?" 

"Everything,  dear  snip.  You  must  surely  under- 
stand it  is  most  important  for  one  in  my  position 
to  avoid  in  any  way  offending  the  sensibilities  of  the 
Philistines." 

"Still,  Manuel,  the  Philistines  themselves  have 
babies,  and  I  do  not  see  how  they  could  have  con- 
ceivably objected  to  my  having  at  any  rate  a  very 
small  one  if  only — " 

"Not  at  all !  nobody  objects  to  the  baby  in  itself, 
now  that  you  are  a  married  woman.  The  point  is 
that  the  babies  of  the  Philistines  are  brought  to 
them  by  the  stork;  and  that  even  an  allusion  to  the 
possibility  of  misguided  persons  obtaining  a  baby 


228  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

in  any  other  way  these  Philistines  consider  to  be 
offensive  and  lewd  and  lascivious  and  obscene." 

"Why,  how  droll  of  them!  But  are  you  sure  of 
that,  Manuel?" 

"All  their  best  thought-of  and  most  popular 
writers,  my  dear,  are  unanimous  upon  the  point; 
and  their  Seranim  have  passed  any  number  of  laws, 
and  their  oil-merchants  have  founded  a  guild,  es- 
pecially to  prosecute  such  references.  No,  there 
is,  to  be  sure,  a  dwindling  sect  which  favors  putting 
up  with  what  babies  you  may  find  in  the  cabbage 
patch,  but  all  really  self-respecting  people  when  in 
need  of  offspring  arrange  to  be  visited  by  the 
stork." 

"It  is  certainly  a  remarkable  custom,  but  it  sounds 
convenient  if  you  can  manage  it,"  said  Niafer. 
"What  I  want  is  the  baby,  though,  and  of  course 
we  must  try  to  get  the  baby  in  the  manner  of  the 
Philistines  if  you  know  that  manner,  for  I  am  sure 
I  have  no  wish  to  offend  anybody." 

So  Manuel  prepared  to  get  a  baby  in  the  manner 
preferred  by  the  Philistines.  He  performed  the 
suitable  incantation,  putting  this  and  that  together 
in  the  manner  formerly  employed  by  the  Thessalian 
witches  and  sorcerers,  and  he  cried  aloud  a  very 
ancient  if  indecent  charm  from  the  old  Latin,  say- 
ing, as  Queen  Stultitia  had  told  him  to  say,  without 
any  mock-modest  mincing  of  words: 


SUMMONS  THE  STORK  229 

Dictum  est  antiqua  sandalio  mulier  habitavit, 
Quse  multos  pueros  habuit  turn  ut  potuit  nullum 
Quod  faciundum  erat  cognoscere.  Sic  Domina  Anser. 

Then  Manuel  took  from  his  breast-pocket  five 
curious  objects  something  like  small  black  stars  and 
a  piece  of  blue  chalk.  With  the  chalk  he  drew  upon 
the  floor  two  parallel  straight  lines.  Manuel 
walked  on  one  of  these  chalk  lines  very  carefully, 
then  beckoned  Niafer  to  him.  Standing  there,  he 
put  his  arms  about  her  and  kissed  her.  Then  he 
placed  the  five  black  stars  in  a  row,  and  went  over 
to  the  next  line. 

The  stork  having  been  thus  properly  summoned, 
Manuel  recalled  to  the  bird  the  three  wishes  which 
had  been  promised  when  Manuel  saved  the  stork's 
life :  and  Manuel  said  that  for  each  wish  he  would 
take  a  son  fetched  to  him  by  the  stork  in  the  manner 
of  the  Philistines. 

The  stork  thought  it  could  be  arranged.  "Not 
this  morning,  though,  as  you  suggest,  for,  indebted 
as  I  am  to  you,  Dom  Manuel,  I  am  also  a  very  busy 
bird.  No,  I  have  any  number  of  orders  that  were 
put  in  months  before  yours,  and  I  must  follow 
system  in  my  business,  for  you  have  no  notion  what 
elaborate  and  exact  accounts  are  frequently  required 
by  the  married  men  that  receive  invoices  from  me." 

"Come  now,"  says  Manuel,  "do  you  be  accom- 
modating, remembering  how  I  once  saved  your  life 


230  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

from  the  eagle,  and  my  wife  and  I  will  order  all 
our  babies  now,  and  spare  you  the  trouble  of  keep- 
ing any  accounts  whatever,  so  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned." 

"Oh,  if  you  care  to  deal  with  such  wholesale  ir- 
regularity, and  have  no  more  consideration  than  to 
keep  casting  old  debts  in  my  bill,  I  might  stretch  a 
point  in  order  to  be  rid  of  you,"  the  stork  said, 
sighing. 

"Now,  but  surely,"  Manuel  considered,  "you 
might  be  a  little  more  cheerful  about  this  matter." 

"And  why  should  I,  of  all  the  birds  that  go  about 
the  heavens,  be  cheerful  ?" 

"Well,  somehow  one  expects  a  reasonable  gaiety 
in  you  who  bring  hilarity  and  teething-rings  into  so 
many  households — " 

The  stork  answered : 

"I  bring  the  children,  stainless  and  dear  and  help- 
less, and  therewith  I,  they  say,  bring  joy.  Now  of 
the  joy  I  bring  to  the  mother  let  none  speak,  for 
miracles  are  not  neatly  to  be  caged  in  sentences,  nor 
is  truth  always  expedient.  To  the  father  I  bring 
the  sight  of  his  own  life,  by  him  so  insecurely  held, 
renewed  and  strengthened  in  a  tenement  not  yet  im- 
paired by  time  a^id  folly :  he  is  no  more  disposed  to 
belittle  himself  here  than  elsewhere;  and  it  is  him- 
self that  he  cuddles  in  this  small,  soft,  incompre- 


SUMMONS  THE  STORK  231 


hensible  and  unsoiled  incarnation.  For,  as  I  bring 
the  children,  they  have  no  evil  in  them  and  no 
cowardice  and  no  guile. 

"I  bring  the  children,  stainless  and  dear  and  help- 
less, when  later  I  return,  to  those  that  yesterday 
were  children.  And  in  all  ways  time  has  marred, 
and  living  has  defaced,  and  prudence  has  maimed, 
until  I  grieve  to  entrust  that  which  I  bring  to  what 
remains  of  that  which  yesterday  I  brought.  In  the 
old  days  were  children  sacrificed  to  a  brazen  burn- 
ing god,  but  time  affects  more  subtile  hecatombs: 
for  Moloch  slew  outright.  Yes,  Moloch,  being  di- 
vine, killed  as  the  dog  kills,  furiously,  but  time  is 
that  transfigured  cat,  an  ironist.  So  living  mars 
and  defaces  and  maims,  and  living  appears  wantonly 
to  soil  and  to  degrade  its  prey  before  destroying  it. 

"I  bring  the  children,  stainless  and  dear  and  help- 
less, and  I  leave  them  to  endure  that  which  is  fated. 
Daily  I  bring  into  this  world  the  beauty  and  inno- 
cence and  high-heartedness  and  faith  of  children: 
but  life  has  no  employment,  or  else  life  has  no  sus- 
tenance, for  these  fine  things  which  I  bring  daily, 
for  always  I,  returning,  find  the  human  usages  of 
living  have  extinguished  these  excellences  in  those 
who  yesterday  were  children,  and  that  these  virtues 
exist  in  no  aged  person.  And  I  would  that  Jahveh 
had  created  me  an  eagle  or  a  vulture  or  some  other 


232  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

hateful  bird  of  prey  that  furthers  a  less  grievous 
slaying  and  a  more  intelligible  wasting  than  I 
further." 

To  this,  Dom  Manuel  replied,  in  that  grave  and 
matter-of-fact  way  of  his:  "Now  certainly  I  can 
see  how  your  vocation  may  seem,  in  a  manner  of 
speaking,  a  poor  investment;  but,  after  all,  your 
business  is  none  of  my  business,  so  I  shall  not  pre- 
sume to  criticize  it.  Instead,  let  us  avoid  these  lofty 
generalities,  and  do  you  tell  me  when  I  may  look 
for  those  three  sons  of  mine." 

Then  they  talked  over  this  matter  of  getting 
babies,  Manuel  walking  on  the  chalk  line  all  the 
while,  and  Manuel  found  he  could  have,  if  he  pre- 
ferred it  so,  three  girls  in  place  of  one  of  the  boys, 
since  the  demand  for  sons  was  thrice  that  for 
daughters.  To  Niafer  it  was  at  once  apparent  that 
to  obtain  five  babies  in  place  of  three  was  a  clear 
bargain.  Manuel  said  he  did  not  want  any 
daughters,  they  were  too  much  of  a  responsibility, 
and  he  did  not  intend  to  be  bothered  with  them. 
He  was  very  firm  and  lordly  about  it.  Then  Niafer 
spoke  again,  and  when  she  had  ended,  Manuel 
wished  for  two  boys  and  three  girls.  Thereafter 
the  stork  subscribed  five  promissory  notes,  and  they 
executed  all  the  other  requisite  formalities. 

The  stork  said  that  by  a  little  management  he 
could  let  them  have  one  of  the  children  within  a 


SUMMONS  THE  STORK  233 

day  or  so.  "But  how  long  have  you  two  been 
married?"  he  asked. 

"Oh,  ever  so  long,"  said  Manuel,  with  a  faint 
sigh. 

"Oh,  no,  my  dearest,"  said  Niafer,  "we  have  been 
married  only  seven  months." 

"In  that  event,"  declared  the  stork,  "you  had 
better  wait  until  month  after  next,  for  it  is  not  the 
fashion  among  my  patrons  to  have  me  visiting  them 
quite  so  early." 

"Well,"  said  Manuel,  "we  wish  to  do  everything 
in  conformance  to  the  preferences  of  Philistia,  even 
to  the  extent  of  following  such  incomprehensible 
fashions."  So  he  arranged  to  have  the  promised 
baby  delivered  at  Sargyll,  which,  he  told  the  stork, 
would  be  their  address  for  the  remainder  of  the 
summer. 


27. 

They  Come  to  Sargyll 


THEN  Manuel  and  Niafer  put  out  to  sea,  and 
after  two  days'  voyaging  they  came  to 
Sargyll  and  to  the  hospitality  of  Queen 
Freydis.  Freydis  was  much  talked  about  at  that 
time  on  account  of  the  way  in  which  King  Thibaut 
had  come  to  his  death  through  her,  and  on  account 
of  her  equally  fatal  dealings  with  the  Duke  of  I  stria 
and  the  Prince  of  Camwy  and  three  or  four  other 
lords.  So  the  ship-captains  whom  Dom  Manuel 
first  approached  preferred  not  to  venture  among  the 
Red  Islands.  Then  the  Jewish  master  of  a  trading 
vessel — a  lean  man  called  Ahasuerus — said,  "Who 
forbids  it?"  and  carried  them  uneventfully  from 
Novogath  to  Sargyll.  They  narrate  how  Oriander 
the  Swimmer  followed  after  the  yellow  ship,  but  he 
attempted  no  hurt  against  Manuel  for  that  turn. 

Thus  Manuel  came  again  to  Freydis,  and  he  had 
his  first  private  talk  with  her  in  a  room  that  was 
hung  with  black  and  gold  brocade.  White  mats  lay 
upon  the  ground,  and  placed  irregularly  about  the 
room  were  large  brass  vases  filled  with  lotus  blos- 
soms. Here  Freydis  sat  on  a  three  legged  stool,  in 

234 


COMES  TO  SARGYLL  235 

conference  with  a  panther.  From  the  ceiling  hung 
rigid  blue  and  orange  and  reddish  brown  serpents, 
all  dead  and  embalmed,  but  in  the  middle  of  the  ceil- 
ing was  painted  a  face  which  was  not  quite  human, 
looking  downward,  with  evil  eyes  half  closed, 
and  with  its  mouth  half  open  in  discomfortable 
laughter. 

Freydis  was  clad  in  scarlet  completely,  and,  as 
has  been  said,  a  golden  panther  was  talking  to  her 
when  Dom  Manuel  came  in.  She  at  once  dismissed 
the  beast,  which  smiled  amicably  at  Dom  Manuel, 
and  then  arched  high  its  back  in  the  manner  of  all 
the  cat  tribe,  and  so  flattened  out  into  a  thin  trans- 
parent goldness,  and,  flickering,  vanished  upward  as 
a  flame  leaves  a  lampwick. 

"Well,  well,  you  bade  me  come  to  you,  dear 
friend,  when  I  had  need  of  you,"  says  Manuel,  very 
cordially  shaking  hands,  "and  nobody's  need  could 
be  more  great  than  mine." 

"Different  people  have  different  needs,"  Freydis 
replied,  rather  gravely,  "but  all  passes  in  this 
world." 

"Friendship,  however,  does  not  pass,  I  hope." 

She  answered  slowly:  "It  is  we  who  pass,  so 
that  the  young  Manuel  whom  I  loved  in  a  summer 
that  is  gone,  is  nowadays  as  perished  as  that  sum- 
mer's gay  leaves.  What,  grizzled  fighting-man, 
have  you  to  do  with  that  young  Manuel  who  had 


236  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

comeliness  and  youth  and  courage,  but  no  human 
pity  and  no  constant  love  ?  and  why  should  I  be  har- 
boring his  light-hearted  mischiefs  against  you? 
Ah,  no,  gray  Manuel,  you  are  quite  certain  no 
woman  would  do  that;  and  people  say  you  are 
shrewd.  So  I  bid  you  very  welcome  to  Sargyll, 
where  my  will  is  the  only  law." 

"You  at  least  have  not  changed,"  Dom  Manuel 
replied,  with  utter  truth,  "for  you  appear  to-day,  if 
anything,  more  fair  and  young  than  you  were  that 
first  night  upon  Morven  when  I  evoked  you  from 
tall  flames  to  lend  life  to  the  image  I  had  made. 
Well,  that  seems  now  a  lengthy  while  ago,  and  I 
make  no  more  images/ ' 

"Your  wife  would  be  considering  it  a  waste  of 
time/'  Queen  Freydis  estimated. 

"No,  that  is  not  quite  the  way  it  is.  For  Niafer 
is  the  dearest  and  most  dutiful  of  women,  and  she 
never  crosses  my  wishes  in  anything." 

Freydis  now  smiled  a  little,  for  she  saw  that 
Manuel  believed  he  was  speaking  veraciously.  "At 
all  events,"  said  Freydis,  "it  is  a  queer  thing  surely 
that  in  the  month  which  is  to  come  the  stork  will  be 
fetching  your  second  child  to  a  woman  resting  under 
my  roof  and  in  my  golden  bed.  Yes,  Thurinel  has 
just  been  telling  me  of  your  plan,  and  it  is  a  queer 
thing.  Yet  it  is  a  far  queerer  thing  that  your  first 
child,  whom  no  stork  fetched  nor  had  any  say  in 


COMES  TO  SARGYLL  237 

shaping,  but  whom  you  made  of  clay  to  the  will  of 
your  proud  youth  and  in  your  proud  youth's  like- 
ness, should  be  limping  about  the  world  somewhere 
in  the  appearance  of  a  strapping  tall  young  fellow, 
and  that  you  should  know  nothing  about  his 
doings." 

"Ah!  what  have  you  heard?  and  what  do  you 
know  about  him,  Freydis  ?" 

"I  suspicion  many  things,  gray  Manuel,  by  virtue 
of  my  dabblings  in  that  gray  art  which  makes 
neither  for  good  nor  evil." 

"Yes,"  said  Manuel,  practically,  "but  what  do 
you  know?" 

She  took  his  hand  again.  "I  know  that  in 
Sargyll  where  my  will  is  the  only  law  you  are  wel- 
come, false  friend  and  very  faithless  lover."  *"* 

He  could  get  no  more  out  of  her,  as  they  stood 
there  under  the  painted  face  which  looked  down 
upon  them  with  di  scorn fortable  laughter. 

So  Manuel  and  Niafer  remained  at  Sargyll  until 
the  baby  should  be  delivered.  King  Ferdinand, 
then  in  the  midst  of  another  campaign  against  the 
Moors,  could  do  nothing  for  his  vassal  just  now. 
But  glittering  messengers  came  from  Raymond 
Berenger,  and  from  King  Helmas,  and  from  Queen 
Stultitia,  each  to  discuss  this  and  that  possible 
alliance  and  aid  by  and  by.  Everybody  was  very 
friendly  if  rather  vague.  But  Manuel  for  the  pres- 


238  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

ent  considered  only  Niafer  and  the  baby  that  was  to 
come,  and  he  let  statecraft  bide. 

Then  two  other  ships,  that  were  laden  with  Duke 
Asmund's  men,  came  also,  in  an  attempt  to  capture 
Manuel:  so  Freydis  despatched  a  sending  which 
caused  these  soldiers  to  run  about  the  decks  howling 
like  wolves,  and  to  fling  away  their  swords  and 
winged  helmets,  and  to  fight  one  against  the  other 
with  hands  and  teeth  until  all  were  slain. 

The  month  passed,  and  Niafer  and  Freydis  be- 
came the  best  and  most  intimate  of  friends,  and 
their  cordiality  to  each  other  could  not  but  have  ap- 
peared to  the  discerning  rather  ominous. 

"She  seems  to  be  a  very  good-hearted  sort  of  a 
person,"  Niafer  conceded,  in  matrimonial  privacy, 
"though  certainly  she  is  rather  queer.  Why,  Man- 
uel, she  showed  me  this  afternoon  ten  of  the  drollest 
figures  to  which — but,  no,  you  would  never  guess  it 
in  the  world, — to  which  she  is  going  to  give  life 
some  day,  just  as  you  did  to  me  when  you  got  my 
looks  and  legs  and  pretty  much  everything  else  all 
wrong." 

"When  does  she  mean  to  quicken  them?"  Dom 
Manuel  asked :  and  he  added,  "Not  that  I  did,  dear 
snip,  but  I  shall  not  argue  about  it." 

"Why,  that  is  the  droll  part  of  it,  and  I  can  quite 
understand  your  unwillingness  to  admit  how  little 
you  had  remembered  about  me.  When  the  man 


COMES  TO  SARGYLL  239 

who  made  them  has  been  properly  rewarded,  she 
said,  with,  Manuel,  the  most  appalling  expression 
you  ever  saw." 

"What  were  these  images  like?"  asked  Dom  Man- 
uel. 

Niafer  described  them:  she  described  them  un- 
sympathetically,  but  there  was  no  doubt  they  were 
the  images  which  Manuel  had  left  unquickened  upon 
Morven. 

Manuel  nodded,  smiled,  and  said :  "So  the  man 
who  made  these  images  is  to  be  properly  rewarded. 
Well,  that  is  encouraging,  for  true  merit  should  al- 
ways be  rewarded." 

"But,  Manuel,  if  you  had  seen  her  look!  and  seen 
what  horrible  misshapen  creatures  they  were — !" 

"Nonsense!"  said  Manuel,  stoutly:  "you  are  a 
dear  snip,  but  that  does  not  make  you  a  competent 
critic  of  either  physiognomy  or  sculpture." 

So  he  laughed  the  matter  aside;  and  this,  as  it 
happened,  was  the  last  that  Dom  Manuel  heard  of 
the  ten  images  he  had  made  upon  Morven.  But 
they  of  Poictesme  declare  that  Queen  Freydis  did 
give  life  to  these  figures,  each  at  a  certain  hour,  and 
that  her  wizardry  set  them  to  live  as  men  among 
mankind,  with  no  very  happy  results,  because  these 
images  differed  from  naturally  begotten  persons  by 
having  inside  them  a  spark  of  the  life  of  Audela. 

Thus  Manuel  and  his  wife  came  uneventfully  to 


240  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

August,  and  all  the  while  there  was  never  a  more 
decorous  or  more  thoughtful  hostess  than  Queen 
Freydis :  and  nobody  would  have  suspected  that 
sorcery  underlay  the  running  of  her  household.  It 
was  only  through  Dom  Manuel's  happening  to  arise 
very  early  one  morning,  at  the  call  of  nature,  that 
he  chanced  to  be  passing  through  the  hall  when,  at 
the  moment  of  sunrise,  the  night-porter  turned  into 
an  orange-colored  rat,  and  crept  into  the  wainscot- 
ing: and  Manuel  of  course  said  nothing  about  this 
to  anybody,  because  it  was  none  of  his  affair. 


28. 

How  Melicent  JFas  Welcomed 


SO  the  month  passed  prosperously  and  unevent- 
fully, while  the  servitors  of  Queen  Freydis  be- 
haved in  every  respect  as  if  they  were  human 
beings :  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  the  stork  came. 

Manuel  and  Niafer,  it  happened,  were  fishing  on 
the  river  bank  rather  late  that  evening,  when  they 
saw  the  great  bird  approaching,  high  overhead,  all 
glistening  white  in  the  sunset,  except  for  his  thin 
scarlet  legs  and  the  blue  shadowings  in  the  hollows 
of  his  wings.  From  his  beak  depended  a  largish 
bundle,  in  blue  wrappings,  so  that  at  a  glance  they 
knew  the  stork  was  bringing  a  girl. 

Statelily  the  bird  lighted  on  the  window  sill,  as 
though  he  were  quite  familiar  with  this  way  of 
entering  Manuel's  bedroom,  and  the  bird  went  in, 
carrying  the  child.  This  was  a  high  and  happy 
moment  for  the  fond  parents  as  they  watched  him, 
and  they  kissed  each  other  rather  solemnly. 

Then  Niafer  left  Manuel  to  get  together  the  fish- 
ing tackle,  and  she  hastened  into  the  house  to  re- 
turn to  the  stork  the  first  of  his  promissory  notes  in 
exchange  for  the  baby.  And  as  Manuel  was  wind- 

241 


242  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

ing  up  the  lines,  Queen  Freydis  came  to  him,  for 
she  too  had  seen  the  stork's  approach,  and  was,  she 
said,  with  a  grave  smile,  well  pleased  that  the  affair 
was  settled. 

"For  now  the  stork  has  come,  yet  others  may 
come,"  says  Freydis,  "and  we  shall  celebrate  the 
happy  event  with  a  gay  feast  this  night  in  honor  of 
your  child." 

"That  is  very  kind  and  characteristic  of  you," 
said  Manuel,  "but  I  suppose  you  will  be  wanting  me 
to  make  a  speech,  and  I  am  quite  unprepared." 

"No,  we  will  have  none  of  your  high-minded  and 
devastating  speeches  at  our  banquet.  No,  for  your 
place  is  with  your  wife.  No,  Manuel,  you  are  not 
bidden  to  this  feast,  for  all  that  it  is  to  do  honor 
to  your  child.  No,  no,  gray  Manuel,  you  must  re- 
main upstairs  this  evening  and  throughout  the  night, 
because  this  feast  is  for  them  that  serve  me:  and 
you  do  not  serve  me  any  longer,  and  the  ways  of 
them  that  serve  me  are  not  your  ways." 

"Ah!"  says  Manuel,  "so  there  is  sorcery  afoot! 
Yes,  Freydis,  I  have  quite  given  over  that  sort  of 
thing.  And  while  not  for  a  moment  would  I  seem 
to  be  criticizing  anybody,  I  hope  before  long  to  see 
you  settling  down,  with  some  fine  solid  fellow,  and 
forsaking  these  empty  frivolities  for  the  higher  and 
real  pleasures  of  life." 


MELICENT'S  WELCOME  243 

"And  what  are  these  delights,  gray  Manuel?" 

"The  joy  that  is  in  the  sight  of  your  children 
playing  happily  about  your  hearth,  and  developing 
into  honorable  men  and  gracious  women,  and  bring- 
ing their  children  in  turn  to  cluster  about  your  tired 
old  knees,  as  the  winter  evenings  draw  in,  and  in  the 
cosy  fire-light  you  smile  across  the  curly  heads  of 
these  children's  children  at  the  dear  wrinkled  white- 
haired  face  of  your  beloved  and  time-tested  help- 
mate, and  are  satisfied,  all  in  all,  with  your  life,  and 
know  that,  by  and  large,  Heaven  has  been  rather 
undeservedly  kind  to  you,"  says  Manuel,  sighing. 
"Yes,  Freydis,  you  may  believe  me  that  such  are  the 
real  joys  of  life,  and  that  such  pleasures  are  more 
profitably  pursued  than  are  the  idle  gaieties  of 
sorcery  and  witchcraft,  which  indeed  at  our  age,  if 
you  will  permit  me  to  speak  thus  frankly,  dear 
friend,  are  hardly  dignified." 

Freydis  shook  her  proud  dark  head.  Her  smiling 
was  grim. 

"Decidedly  I  shall  not  ever  understand  you. 
Doddering  patriarch,  do  you  not  comprehend  you 
are  already  discoursing  about  a  score  or  two  of 
grandchildren  on  the  ground  of  having  a  five- 
minute-old  daughter,  whom  you  have  not  yet  seen? 
Nor  is  that  child's  future,  it  may  be,  yours  to  settle 
— But  go  to  your  wife,  for  this  is  Niafer's  man  who 


244  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

is  talking,  and  not  mine.  Go  up,  Methuselah,  and 
behold  the  new  life  which  you  have  created  and  can- 
not control." 

Manuel  went  to  Niafer,  and  found  her  sewing. 
"My  dear,  this  will  not  do  at  all,  for  you  ought  to 
be  in  bed  with  the  newborn  child  as  is  the  custom 
with  the  mothers  of  Philistia." 

"What  nonsense!"  says  Niafer,  "when  I  have  to 
be  changing  every  one  of  the  pink  bows  on  Meli- 
cent's  caps  for  blue  bows." 

"Still,  Niafer,  it  is  eminently  necessary  for  us 
to  be  placating  the  Philistines  in  all  respects,  in  this 
delicate  matter  of  your  having  a  baby." 

Niafer  grumbled,  but  obeyed.  She  presently  lay 
in  the  golden  bed  of  Freydis:  then  Manuel  duly 
looked  at  the  contents  of  the  small  heaving  bundle 
at  Niafer's  side :  and  whether  or  no  he  scaled  the 
traditional  peaks  of  emotion  was  no  one's  concern 
save  Manuel's.  He  began,  in  any  event,  to  talk 
in  the  vein  which  fathers  ordinarily  feel  such  high 
occasions  to  demand.  But  Niafer,  who  was  never 
romantic  nowadays,  merely  said  that,  anyhow,  it 
was  a  blessing  it  was  all  over,  and  that  she  hoped, 
now,  they  would  soon  be  leaving  Sargyll. 

"But  Freydis  is  so  kind,  my  dear,"  said  Manuel, 
"and  so  fond  of  you !" 

"I  never  in  my  life,"  declared  Niafer,  "knew  any- 
body to  go  off  so  terribly  in  their  looks  as  that  two- 


MELICENT'S  WELCOME  245 

cod  cat  has  done  since  the  first  time  I  saw  her 
prancing  on  her  tall  horse  and  rolling  her  snake  eyes 
at  you.  As  for  being  fond  of  me,  I  trust  her  ex- 
actly as  far  as  I  can  see  her." 

"Yet,  Niafer,  I  have  heard  you  declare,  time  and 
again — " 

"But  if  you  did,  Manuel,  one  has  to  be  civil." 

Manuel  shrugged,  discreetly.  "You  women !"  he 
observed,  discreetly. 

" — As  if  it  were  not  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  her 
face — and  I  do  not  suppose  that  even  you,  Manuel, 
will  be  contending  she  has  a  really  good  nose, — that 
fhe  woman  is  simply  itching  to  make  a  fool  of  you, 
und  to  have  everybody  laughing  at  you,  again! 
Manuel,  I  declare  I  have  no  patience  with  you  when 
you  keep  arguing  about  such  unarguable  facts!" 

Manuel,  exercising  augmented  discretion,  now 
sa'd  nothing  whatever. 

"'* — And  you  may  talk  yourself  black  in  the  face, 
Manuel,  but  nevertheless  I  am  going  to  name  the 
child  Melicent,  after  my  own  mother,  as  soon  as  a 
priest  can  be  fetched  from  the  mainland  to  christen 
her.  No,  Manuel,  it  is  all  very  well  for  your  dear 
friend  to  call  herself  a  gray  witch,  but  I  do  not 
notice  any  priests  coming  to  this  house  unless  they 
are  especially  sent  for,  and  I  draw  my  own  con- 
clusions," 

"Well,  well,  let  us  not  argue  about  it,  my  dear." 


246  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Yes,  but  who  started  all  this  arguing  and  fault- 
finding, I  would  like  to  know !" 

"Why,  to  be  sure  I  did.  But  I  spoke  without 
thinking.  I  was  wrong.  I  admit  it.  So  do  not 
excite  yourself,  dear  snip/' 

" — And  as  if  I  could  help  the  child's  not  being  a 
boy!" 

"But  I  never  said—" 

"No,  but  you  keep  thinking  it,  and  sulking  is  the 
one  thing  I  cannot  stand.  No,  Manuel,  no,  I  do 
not  complain,  but  I  do  think  that,  after  all  I  have 
been  through  with,  sleeping  around  in  tents,  and 
running  away  from  Northmen,  and  never  having  a 
moment's  comfort,  after  I  had  naturally  figured  on 
being  a  real  countess — "  Niafer  whimpered  sleepily. 

"Yes,  yes,"  says  Manuel,  stroking  her  soft  crinkly 
hair. 

" — And  with  that  silky  hell-cat  watching  me  all 
the  time — and  looking  ten  years  younger  than  I  do, 
now  that  you  have  got  my  face  and  legs  all  wrong — 
and  planning  I  do  not  know  what— 

"Yes,  to  be  sure/'  says  Manuel,  soothingly :  "you 
are  quite  right,  my  dear." 

So  a  silence  fell,  and  presently  Niafer  slept. 
Manuel  sat  with  hunched  shoulders,  watching  the 
wife  he  had  fetched  back  from  paradise  at  the  price 
of  his  youth.  His  face  was  grave,  his  lips  were 
puckered  and  protruded.  He  smiled  by  and  by,  and 


MELICENT'S  WELCOME  247 

he  shook  his  head.  He  sighed,  not  as  one  who  is 
grieved,  but  like  a  man  perplexed  and  a  little  weary. 

Now  some  while  after  Niafer  was  asleep,  and 
when  the  night  was  fairly  advanced,  you  could  hear 
a  whizzing  and  a  snorting  in  the  air.  Manuel  went 
to  the  window,  and  lifted  the  scarlet  curtain  figured 
with  ramping  gold  dragons,  and  he  looked  out,  to 
find  a  vast  number  of  tiny  bluish  lights  skipping 
about  confusedly  and  agilely  in  the  darkness,  like 
shining  fleas.  These  approached  the  river  bank, 
and  gathered  there.  Then  the  assembled  lights  be- 
gan to  come  toward  the  house.  You  could  now  see 
that  these  lights  were  carried  by  dwarfs  who  had 
the  eyes  of  owls  and  the  long  beaks  of  storks. 
These  dwarfs  were  jumping  and  dancing  about 
Freydis  like  an  insane  body-guard. 

Freydis  walked  among  them  very  remarkably  at- 
tired. Upon  her  head  shone  the  urasus  crown,  and 
she  carried  a  long  rod  of  cedar-wood  topped  with  an 
apple  carved  in  bluestone,  and  at  her  side  came  the 
appearance  of  a  tall  young  man. 

So  they  all  approached  the  house,  and  the  young 
man  looked  up  fixedly  at  the  unlighted  window,  as 
though  he  were  looking  at  Manuel.  The  young 
man  smiled:  his  teeth  gleamed  in  the  blue  glare. 
Then  the  whole  company  entered  the  house,  and 
from  Manuel's  station  at  the  window  you  could 
see  no  more,  but  you  could  hear  small  prancing  hoof- 


248  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

beats  downstairs  and  the  clattering  of  plates  and 
much  whinnying  laughter.  Manuel  was  plucking 
irresolutely  at  his  grizzled  short  beard,  for  there 
was  no  doubt  as  to  the  strapping  tall  young  fellow. 
Presently  you  could  hear  music :  it  was  the  ravish- 
ing Nis  air,  which  charms  the  mind  into  sweet  con- 
fusion and  oblivion,  and  Manuel  did  not  make  any 
apparent  attempt  to  withstand  its  wooing.  He 
hastily  undressed,  knelt  for  a  decorous  interval,  and 
climbed  vexedly  into  bed. 


Sesphra  of  the  Dreams 


IN  the  morning  Dom  Manuel  arose  early,  and  left 
Niafer  still  sleeping  with  the  baby.  Manuel 
came  down  through  the  lower  hall,  where  the 
table  was  as  the  revelers  had  left  it.  In  the  middle 
of  the  disordered  room  stood  a  huge  copper  vessel 
half  full  of  liquor,  and  beside  it  was  a  drinking- 
horn  of  gold.  Manuel  paused  here,  and  drank  of 
the  sweet  heather-wine  as  though  he  had  need  to 
hearten  himself. 

He  went  out  into  the  bright  windy  morning,  and 
as  he  crossed  the  fields  he  came  up  behind  a  red  cow 
who  was  sitting  upon  her  haunches,  intently  reading 
a  largish  book  bound  in  green  leather,  but  at  sight 
of  Manuel  she  hastily  put  aside  the  volume,  and  be- 
gan eating  grass.  Manuel  went  on,  without  com- 
ment, toward  the  river  bank,  to  meet  the  image 
which  he  had  made  of  clay,  and  to  which  through 
unholy  arts  he  had  given  life. 

The  thing  came  up  out  of  the  glistening  ripples 
of  brown  water,  and  the  thing  embraced  Manuel 
and  kissed  him.  "I  am  pagan/'  the  thing  said,  in 
a  sweet  mournful  voice,  "and  so  I  could  not  come 

249 


250  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

to  you  until  your  love  was  given  to  the  unchristened. 
For  I  was  not  ever  christened,  and  so  my  true  name 
is  not  known  to  anybody.  But  in  the  far  lands 
where  I  am  worshipped  as  a  god  I  am  called  Sesphra 
of  the  Dreams." 

"I  did  not  give  you  any  name,"  said  Manuel ;  and 
then  he  said :  "Sesphra,  you  that  have  the  appear- 
ance of  Alianora  and  of  my  youth !  Sesphra,  how 
beautiful  you  are !" 

"Is  that  why  you  are  trembling,  Manuel?" 
"I  tremble  because  the  depths  of  my  being  have 
been  shaken.  Since  youth  went  out  of  me,  in  the 
high  woods  of  Dun  Vlechlan,  I  have  lived  through 
days  made  up  of  small  frettings  and  little  pleasures 
and  only  half  earnest  desires,  which  moved  about 
upon  the  surface  of  my  being  like  minnows  in 
the  shoals  of  a  still  lake.  But  now  that  I 
have  seen  and  heard  you,  Sesphra  of  the  Dreams, 
and  your  lips  have  touched  my  lips,  a  passion 
moves  in  me  that  possesses  all  of  me,  and  I  am 
frightened." 

"It  is  the  passion  which  informs  those  who  make 
images.     It  is  the  master  you  denied,  poor  foolish 
Manuel,  and  the  master  who  will  take  no  denial." 
"Sesphra,  what  is  your  will  with  me?" 
"It  is  my  will  that  you  and  I  go  hence  on  a  long 
journey,  into  the  far  lands  where  I  am  worshipped 
as  a  god.     For  I  love  you,  my  creator,  who  gave 


OF  SESPHRA'S  MAGIC  251 

life  to  me,  and  you  love  me  more  than  aught  else, 
and  it  is  not  right  that  we  be  parted." 

"I  cannot  go  on  any  journey,  just  now,  for  I 
have  my  lands  and  castles  to  regain,  and  my  wife 
and  my  newborn  child  to  protect." 

Sesphra  began  to  smile  adorably :  you  saw  that  his 
teeth  were  strangely  white  and  very  strong.  "What 
are  these  things  to  me  or  you,  or  to  anyone  that 
makes  images  ?  We  follow  after  our  own  thinking 
and  our  own  desires." 

"I  lived  thus  once  upon  a  time,"  said  Manuel, 
sighing,  "but  nowadays  there  is  a  bond  upon  me  to 
provide  for  my  wife,  and  for  my  child  too,  and  I 
have  not  much  leisure  left  for  anything  else." 

Then  Sesphra  began  to  speak  adorably,  as  he 
walked  on  the  river  bank,  with  one  arm  about  Dom 
Manuel.  Always  Sesphra  limped  as  he  walked.  A 
stiff  and  obdurate  wind  was  ruffling  the  broad  brown 
shining  water,  and  as  they  walked  this  wind  buffeted 
them,  and  tore  at  their  clothing.  Manuel  clung 
to  his  hat  with  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  held 
to  lame  Sesphra  of  the  Dreams.  Sesphra  talked  of 
matters  not  to  be  recorded. 

"That  is  a  handsome  ring  you  have  there,"  says 
Sesphra,  by  and  by. 

"It  is  the  ring  my  wife  gave  me  when  we  were 
married,"  Manuel  replied. 

"Then  you  must  give  it  to  me,  dear  Manuel." 


252  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No,  no,  I  cannot  part  with  it." 

"But  it  is  beautiful,  and  I  want  it,"  Sesphra  said. 
So  Manuel  gave  him  the  ring. 

Now  Sesphra  began  again  to  talk  of  matters  not 
to  be  recorded. 

"Sesphra  of  the  Dreams,"  says  Manuel,  presently, 
"you  are  bewitching  me,  for  when  I  listen  to  you 
I  see  that  Manuel's  imperilled  lands  make  such  a 
part  of  earth  as  one  grain  of  sand  contributes  to  the 
long  narrow  beach  we  are  treading.  I  see  my  fond 
wife  Niafer  as  a  plain-featured  and  dull  woman,  not 
in  any  way  remarkable  among  the  millions  of  such 
women  as  are  at  this  moment  preparing  breakfast 
or  fretting  over  other  small  tasks.  I  see  my  new- 
born child  as  a  mewing  lump  of  flesh.  And  I  see 
Sesphra  whom  I  made  so  strong  and  strange  and 
beautiful,  and  it  is  as  in  a  half  daze  I  hear  that 
obdurate  wind  commingled  with  the  sweet  voice  of 
Sesphra  while  you  are  talking  of  matters  which  it 
is  not  safe  to  talk  about." 

"Yes,  that  is  the  way  it  is,  Manuel,  and  the  way 
it  should  be,  and  the  way  it  always  will  be  as  long 
as  life  is  spared  to  you,  now.  So  let  us  go  into 
the  house,  and  write  droll  letters  to  King  Helmas 
and  Raymond  Berenger  and  Queen  Stultitia,  in 
reply  to  the  fine  offers  they  have  been  making  you." 

They  came  back  into  the  empty  banquet-hall. 
This  place  was  paved  with  mother  of  pearl  and 


OF  SESPHRA'S  MAGIC  253 

copper,  and  porphyry  columns  supported  the  mu- 
sicians' gallery.  To  the  other  end  were  two  ala- 
baster urns  upon  green  pedestals  that  were  covered 
with  golden  writing  in  the  old  Dirgham. 

Here  Manuel  cleared  away  the  embossed  silver 
plates  from  one  corner  of  the  table,  and  he  took 
pen  and  ink,  and  Sesphra  told  him  what  to  write. 
Sesphra  sat  with  arms  folded,  and  as  he  dictated  he 
looked  up  at  the  ceiling.  The  ceiling  was  of  mosaic 
work,  showing  four  winged  creatures  that  veiled 
their  faces  with  crimson  and  orange  tawny  wings, 
and  suspended  from  the  ceiling  by  bronze  chains 
hung  ostrich  eggs,  bronze  lamps  and  globes  of 
crystal. 

"But  these  are  very  insulting  replies,"  observed 
Dom  Manuel,  when  he  had  finished  writing,  "and 
they  will  make  their  recipients  furious.  These 
princes,  Sesphra,  are  my  good  friends,  and  they  are 
powerful  friends,  upon  whose  favor  I  am  depend- 
ent." 

"Yes,  but  how  beautifully  these  replies  are 
worded!  See  now,  dear  Manuel,  how  divertingly 
you  have  described  King  Helmas'  hideous  nose  in 
your  letter  to  King  Helmas,  and  how  trenchant  is 
that  paragraph  about  the  scales  of  his  mermaid 
wife :  and  in  your  letter  to  the  pious  Queen  Stultitia 
that  which  you  say  about  the  absurdities  of  reli- 
gion, here,  and  the  fun  you  make  of  her  spectacles, 


254  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

are  masterpieces  of  paradox  and  very  exquisite 
prose.  So  I  must  see  to  it  that  these  replies  are 
sent,  to  make  people  admire  you  everywhere.  But 
you  and  I  will  not  bother  about  these  stupid  princes 
any  more,  nor  will  you  need  any  friends  except  me, 
for  we  will  go  to  this  and  that  remote  strange  place, 
and  our  manner  of  living  will  be  such  and  such,  and 
we  will  do  so  and  so,  and  we  will  travel  every- 
whither and  see  the  ends  of  this  world  and  judge 
them.  And  we  will  not  ever  be  parted  until  you 
die." 

"What  will  you  do  then,  dear  Sesphra?"  Man- 
uel asks  him  fondly. 

"I  shall  survive  you,  as  all  gods  outlive  their 
creators.  And  I  must  depute  the  building  of  your 
monument  to  men  of  feeble  minds  which  have  been 
properly  impaired  by  futile  studies  and  senility. 
That  is  the  way  in  which  all  gods  are  doomed  to 
deal  with  their  creators:  but  that  need  not  trouble 
us  as  yet." 

"No," 'Manuel  said,  "I  cannot  go  with  you.  For 
in  my  heart  is  enkindling  such  love  of  you  as 
frightens  me." 

"It  is  through  love  men  win  to  happiness,  poor 
lonely  Manuel." 

Now  when  Manuel  answered  Sesphra  there  was 
trouble  and  bewilderment  in  Manuel's  face.  And 
Manuel  said : 


OF  SESPHRA'S  MAGIC  255 

"Under  your  dear  bewitchments,  Sesphra,  I  con- 
fess that  through  love  men  win  to  sick  disgust  and 
self-despising,  and  for  that  reason  I  will  not  love 
any  more.  Now  breathlessly  the  tall  lads  run  to 
clutch  at  stars,  above  the  brink  of  a  drab  quagmire, 
and  presently  time  trips  them —  Oh,  Sesphra,  wicked 
Sesphra  of  the  Dreams,  you  have  laid  upon  me  a 
magic  so  strong  that,  horrified,  I  hear  the  truth 
come  babbling  from  long-guarded  lips  which  no 
longer  obey  me,  because  of  your  dear  bewitchments. 

"Look  you,  adorable  and  all-masterful  Sesphra, 
I  have  followed  noble  loves.  I  aspired  to  the  Un- 
attainable Princess,  and  thereafter  to  the  unattain- 
able Queen  of  a  race  that  is  more  fine  and  potent 
than  our  race,  and  afterward  I  would  have  no  less 
a  love  than  an  unattainable  angel  in  paradise.  Hah, 
I  must  be  fit  mate  for  that  which  is  above  me,  was 
my  crying  in  the  old  days,  and  such  were  the  in- 
domitable desires  that  one  by  one  have  made  my 
living  wonderful  with  dear  bewitchments. 

"The  devil  of  it  was  that  these  proud  aims  did 
not  stay  unattained!  Instead,  I  was  cursed  by 
getting  my  will,  and  always  my  reward  was  nothing 
marvelous  and  rare,  but  that  quite  ordinary  figure 
of  earth,  a  human  woman.  And  always  in  some 
dripping  dawn  I  have  turned  with  abhorrence  from 
myself  and  from  the  sated  folly  that  had  hankered 
for  such  prizes,  which,  when  possessed,  showed  as 


256  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

not  wonderful  in  anything,  and  which  possession 
left  likable  enough,  but  stripped  of  dear  bewitch- 
ments. 

"No,  Sesphra,  no:  men  are  so  made  that  they 
must  desire  to  mate  with  some  woman  or  another, 
and  they  are  furthermore  so  made  that  to  mate 
with  a  woman  does  not  content  their  desire.  And 
in  this  gaming  there  is  no  gain,  because  the  end  of 
loving,  for  everybody  except  those  lucky  persons 
whose  love  is  not  requited,  must  always  be  a  sick 
disgust  and  a  self-despising,  which  the  wise  will 
conduct  in  silence,  and  not  talk  about  as  I  am  talk- 
ing now  under  your  dear  bewitchments." 

Then  Sesphra  smiled  a  little,  saying,  "And  yet, 
poor  Manuel,  there  is,  they  tell  me,  no  more  uxori- 
ous husband  anywhere." 

"I  am  used  to  her,"  Manuel  replied,  forlornly, 
"and  I  suppose  that  if  she  were  taken  away  from 
me  again  I  would  again  be  attempting  to  fetch  her 
back.  And  I  do  not  like  to  hurt  the  poor  foolish 
heart  of  her  by  going  against  her  foolish  notions; 
and,  besides,  I  am  a  little  afraid  of  her,  because  she 
is  always  able  to  make  me  uncomfortable.  And 
above  all,  of  course,  the  hero  of  a  famous  love 
affair,  such  as  ours  has  become,  with  those  damned 
poets  everywhere  making  rhymes  about  my  fidelity 
and  devotion,  has  to  preserve  appearances.  So  I 


OF  SESPHRA'S  MAGIC  257 

get  through  each  day,  somehow,  by  never  listening 
very  attentively  to  the  interminable  things  she  tells 
me  about.  But  I  often  wonder,  as  I  am  sure  all 
husbands  wonder,  why  Heaven  ever  made  a  creature 
so  tedious  and  so  unreasonably  dull  of  wit  and  so 
opinionated.  And  when  I  think  that  for  the  rest  of 
time  this  creature  is  to  be  my  companion  I  usually 
go  out  and  kill  somebody.  Then  I  come  back,  be- 
cause she  knows  the  way  I  like  my  toast." 

"Instead,  dear  Manuel,  you  must  go  away  from 
this  woman  who  does  not  understand  you — " 

"Yes,"  Manuel  said,  with  grave  conviction,  "that 
is  exactly  the  trouble." 

" — And  you  must  go  with  me  who  understand 
you  all  through.  And  we  will  travel  everywhither, 
so  that  we  may  see  the  ends  of  this  world  and  judge 
them." 

"You  tempt  me,  Sesphra,  with  an  old  undying  de- 
sire, and  you  have  laid  strong  enchantments  on  me, 
but,  no,  I  cannot  go  with  you." 

The  hand  of  Sesphra  closed  on  the  hand  of  Man- 
uel caressingly. 

Manuel  said:  "I  will  go  with  you.  But  what 
will  become  of  the  woman  and  the  child  whom  I 
leave  behind  me  unfriended?" 

"That  is  true.  There  will  be  nobody  to  look  out 
for  them,  and  they  will  perish  miserably.  That  is 


258  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

not  important,  but  perhaps  upon  the  whole  it  would 
be  better  for  you  to  kill  them  before  we  depart  from 
Sargyll." 

"Very  well,  then,"  says  Manuel,  "I  will  do  that, 
but  you  must  come  up  into  the  room  with  me,  for 
I  cannot  bear  to  lose  sight  of  you." 

Now  Sesphra  smiled  more  unrestrainedly,  and  his 
teeth  gleamed.  "I  shall  not  ever  leave  you  now  un- 
til you  die." 


30. 

Farewell  to  Freydis 


THEY  went  upstairs  together,  into  the  room 
with  scarlet  hangings,  and  to  the  golden  bed 
where,  with  seven  sorts  of  fruit  properly  ar- 
ranged at  the  bedside,  Dom  Manuel's  wife  Niafer 
lay    asleep.     Manuel    drew    his    dagger.     Niafer 
turned  in  her  sleep,  so  that  she  seemed  to  offer  her 
round  small  throat  to  the  raised  knife.     You  saw 
now  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  golden  bed  sat 
Queen  Freydis,  making  a  rich  glow  of  color  there, 
and  in  her  lap  was  the  newborn  naked  child. 

Freydis  rose,  holding  the  child  to  her  breast,  and 
smiling.  A  devil  might  smile  thus  upon  contriving 
some  new  torment  for  lost  souls,  but  a  fair  woman's 
face  should  not  be  so  cruel.  Then  this  evil  joy 
passed  from  the  face  of  Freydis.  She  dipped  her 
fingers  into  the  bowl  of  water  with  which  she  had 
been  bathing  the  child,  and  with  her  finger-tips  she 
made  upon  the  child's  forehead  the  sign  of  a  cross. 
Said  Freydis,  "Melicent,  I  baptize  thee  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

Sesphra  passed  wildly  toward  the  fireplace,  crying, 
259 


260  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"A  penny,  a  penny,  twopence,  a  penny  and  a  half, 
and  a  halfpenny!"  At  his  call  the  fire  shot  forth 
tall  flames,  and  Sesphra  entered  these  flames  as  a 
man  goes  between  parted  curtains,  and  instantly  the 
fire  collapsed  and  was  as  it  had  been.  Already  the 
hands  of  Freydis  were  moving  deftly  in  the  Sleep 
Charm,  so  that  Niafer  did  not  move.  Freydis  to- 
day was  resplendently  robed  in  flame-colored  silk, 
and  about  her  dark  hair  was  a  circlet  of  burnished 
copper. 

Manuel  had  dropped  his  dagger  so  that  the  point 
of  it  pierced  the  floor,  and  the  weapon  stood  erect 
and  quivering.  But  Manuel  was  shaken  for  a 
moment  more  horribly  than  shook  the  dagger:  you 
would  have  said  he  was  convulsed  with  horror  and 
self-loathing.  So  for  an  instant  he  waited,  looking 
at  Dame  Niafer,  who  slept  untroubled,  and  at  fiery- 
colored  Freydis,  who  was  smiling  rather  queerly: 
and  then  the  old  composure  came  back  to  Manuel. 

"Breaker  of  all  oaths,"  says  Freydis,  "know  that 
Sesphra  is  pagan,  and  cannot  thrive  except  among 
those  whose  love  is  given  to  the  unchristened. 
Thus  he  could  not  come  to  Sargyll  until  the  arrival 
of  this  little  heathen  whom  I  have  just  made  Chris- 
tian. Now  we  haVe  only  Christian  terrors  here, 
and  your  fate  again  is  in  my  hands." 

Dom  Manuel  looked  grave.  "Freydis,"  he  said, 
"you  have  rescued  me  from  very  unbecoming  con- 


FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS  261 

duct.  A  moment  more  and  I  would  have  slain  my 
wife  and  child  because  of  Sesphra's  resistless 
magic." 

Says  Freydis,  still  smiling  a  queer  secret  smile: 
"Indeed,  there  is  no  telling  into  what  folly  and 
misery  Sesphra  would  not  have  led  you.  For  you 
fashioned  his  legs  unevenly,  and  he  has  not  ever 
pardoned  you  his  lameness." 

"The  thing  is  a  devil,"  Manuel  said.  "And  this 
is  the  figure  I  desired  to  make,  this  is  the  child  of 
my  long  dreams  and  labors,  and  this  is  the  creature 
I  designed  to  be  more  admirable  and  significant  than 
the  drab  men  I  found  in  streets  and  lanes  and 
palaces!  Certainly  I  have  loosed  among  mankind 
a  blighting  misery  which  I  cannot  control  at  all." 

"The  thing  is  you  as  you  were  once,  gray  Manuel. 
You  had  comeliness  and  wit  and  youth  and  courage, 
and  these  you  gave  the  image,  shaping  it  boldly  to 
your  proud  youth's  will  and  in  your  proud  youth's 
likeness.  But  human  pity  and  any  constant  love 
you  did  not  then  have  to  give,  either  to  your  fellows 
or  to  the  fine  figure  you  made,  nor  very  certainly  to 
me.  So  you  amused  yourself  by  making  Sesphra 
and  me  that  which  we  are  to-day." 

Now  again  showed  subtly  evil  thoughts  in  the 
face  of  this  shrewd  flaming  woman  who  had  so  re- 
cently brought  about  the  death  of  King  Thibaut, 
and  of  the  Duke  of  Istria,  and  of  those  other  en- 


262  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

amored  lords:  and  Dom  Manuel  began  to  regard 
her  more  intently. 

In  Manuel's  sandals  the  average  person  would 
have  reflected,  long  before  this,  that  Manuel  and  his 
wife  and  child  were  in  this  sorcerous  place  at  the 
mercy  of  the  whims  and  the  unwholesome  servitors 
of  this  not  very  dependable  looking  witch-woman: 
and  the  average  person  would  have  recollected  dis- 
tastefully that  unusual  panther  and  that  discomfort- 
able  night-porter  and  the  madness  which  had 
smitten  Duke  Asmund's  men,  and  the  clattering 
vicious  little  hoofs  of  the  shrill  dwarfs,  and  to  the 
average  person  this  room  would  have  seemed  a  de- 
sirable place  to  be  long  leagues  away  from. 

But  candid  blunt  Dom  Manuel  said,  with  jovial 
laughter:  "You  speak  as  if  you  had  not  grown 
more  adorable  every  day,  dear  Freydis,  and  as 
though  I  would  not  be  vastly  flattered  to  think  I  had 
any  part  in  the  improvement.  You  should  not  fish 
thus  unblushingly  for  compliments." 

The  sombre  glitterings  that  were  her  eyes  had 
narrowed,  and  she  was  looking  at  his  hands.  Then 
Freydis  said :  "There  are  pin-points  of  sweat  upon 
the  back  of  your  hands,  gray  Manuel,  and  so  alone 
do  I  know  that  you  are  badly  frightened.  Yes, 
you  are  rather  wonderful,  even  now." 

"I  am  not  unduly  frightened,  but  I  am  naturally 
upset  by  what  has  just  happened.  Anybody  would 


FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS  263 

be.  For  I  do  not  know  what  I  must  anticipate  in 
the  future,  and  I  wish  that  I  had  never  meddled  in 
this  mischancy  business  of  creating  things  I  cannot 
manage." 

Queen  Freydis  moved  in  shimmering  splendor 
toward  the  fireplace,  and  she  paused  there,  consider- 
ately looking  down  at  the  small  contention  of  flames. 
"Did  you  not,  though,  again  create  much  misery 
when  for  your  pleasure  you  gave  life  to  this  girl 
child  ?  Certainly  you  must  know  that  there  will  be 
in  her  life — if  life  indeed  be  long  spared  to  her," 
said  Freydis,  reflectively, — "far  less  of  joy  than  of 
sorrow,  for  that  is  the  way  it  is  with  the  life  of 
everybody.  But  all  this  likewise  is  out  of  your 
hands,  for  in  Sesphra  and  in  the  child  and  in  me 
you  have  lightly  created  that  which  you  cannot  con- 
trol. No,  it  is  I  who  control  the  outcome." 

Now  a  golden  panther  came  quite  noiselessly  into 
the  room,  and  sat  to  the  left  of  Freydis,  and  looked 
at  Dom  Manuel. 

"Why,  to  be  sure,"  says  Manuel,  heartily,  "and 
I  am  sure,  too,  that  nobody  is  better  qualified  to 
handle  it.  Come  now,  Freydis,  just  as  you  say, 
this  is  a  serious  situation,  and  something  really 
ought  to  be  done  about  this  situation.  Come  now, 
dear  friend,  in  what  way  can  we  take  back  the  life 
we  gave  this  lovely  fiend?" 

"And  would  I  be  wanting  to  kill  my  husband?" 


264  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Queen  Freydis  asked,  and  she  smiled  wonderfully. 
"Why,  but  yes,  this  fair  lame  child  of  yours  is  my 
husband  to-day — poor,  frightened,  fidgeting  gray 
Manuel, — and  I  love  him,  for  Sesphra  is  all  that  you 
were  when  I  loved  you,  Manuel,  and  when  you  con- 
descended to  take  your  pleasure  of  me." 

Now  an  orange-colored  rat  came  into  the  room, 
and  sat  down  upon  the  hearth  to  the  right  hand  of 
Freydis,  and  looked  at  Dom  Manuel.  And  the  rat 
was  as  large  as  the  panther. 

Then  Freydis  said :  "No,  Manuel,  Sesphra  must 
live  for  a  great  while,  long  after  you  have  been 
turned  to  graveyard  dust:  and  he  will  limp  about 
wherever  pagans  are  to  be  found,  and  he  will  always 
win  much  love  from  the  high-hearted  pagans  be- 
cause of  his  comeliness  and  his  unfading  jaunty 
youth.  And  whether  he  will  do  any  good  any- 
where is  doubtful,  but  it  is  certain  he  will  do  harm, 
and  it  is  equally  certain  that  already  he  weighs 
my  happiness  as  carelessly  as  you  once  weighed 
it" 

Now  came  into  the  room  another  creature,  such 
as  no  madman  has  ever  seen  or  imagined,  and  it 
lay  down  at  the  feet  of  Freydis,  and  it  looked  at 
Dom  Manuel.  Couched  thus,  this  creature  yawned 
and  disclosed  unreassuring  teeth. 

"Well,  Freydis,"  says  Dom  Manuel,  handsomely, 
"but  to  be  sure,  what  you  tell  me  puts  a  new  com- 


FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS  265 

plexion  upon  matters,  and  not  for  worlds  would  I 
be  coming  between  husband  and  wife — " 

Queen  Freydis  looked  up  from  the  flames,  toward 
Dom  Manuel,  very  sadly.  Freydis  shrugged,  fling- 
ing out  her  hands  above  the  heads  of  the  accursed 
beasts.  "And  at  the  last  I  cannot  do  that,  either. 
So  do  you  two  dreary,  unimportant,  well-mated  peo- 
ple remain  undestroyed,  now  that  I  go  to  seek  my 
husband,  and  now  I  endeavor  to  win  my  pardon  for 
not  letting  him  torment  you.  Eh,  I  was  tempted, 
gray  Manuel,  to  let  my  masterful  fine  husband  have 
his  pleasure  of  you,  and  of  this  lean  ugly  hobbling 
creature  and  her  brat,  too,  as  formerly  you  had  your 
pleasure  of  me.  But  women  are  so  queerly  fash- 
ioned that  at  the  last  I  cannot  consent  to  harm  this 
gray,  staid,  tedious  fellow,  nor  any  of  his  chattels. 
For  all  passes  in  this  world  save  one  thing  only :  and 
though  the  young  Manuel  whom  I  loved  in  a  sum- 
mer that  is  gone,  be  nowadays  as  perished  as  that 
summer's  gay  leaves,  it  is  certain  a  woman's  folly 
does  not  ever  perish." 

"Indeed,  I  did  not  merit  that  you  should  care  for 
me,"  says  Manuel,  rather  unhappily.  "But  I  have 
always  been,  and  always  shall  be  sincerely  fond  of 
you,  Freydis,  and  for  that  reason  I  rejoice  to  de- 
duce that  you  are  not,  now,  going  to  do  anything 
violent  and  irreparable  and  such  as  your  better  na- 
ture would  afterward  regret." 


266  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"I  loved  you  once,"  she  said,  "and  now  I  am  as- 
sured the  core  of  you  was  always  a  cold  and  hard 
and  colorless  and  very  common  pebble.  But  it  does 
not  matter  now  that  I  am  a  mortal  woman.  Either 
way,  you  have  again  made  use  of  me,  for  I  have 
afforded  you  shelter  when  you  were  homeless,  and 
now  again  you  will  be  getting  your  desire." 

Queen  Freydis  went  to  the  window,  and  lifted 
the  scarlet  curtain  figured  with  ramping  gold 
dragons;  but  the  couching  beasts  stayed  by  the 
hearth,  and  they  continued  to  look  at  Dom  Manuel. 

"Yes,  again  you  will  be  getting  your  desire,  gray 
Manuel,  for  that  ship  which  shows  at  the  river 
bend,  with  serpents  and  castles  painted  on  its  brown 
sails,  is  Miramon  Lluagor's  ship,  which  he  has  sent 
to  fetch  you  from  Sargyll:  and  your  exile  is  over, 
for  Miramon  is  constrained  by  one  who  is  above  us 
all,  and  therefore  Miramon  comes  gladly  and  po- 
tently to  serve  you.  So  I  may  now  depart,  to  look 
for  Sesphra,  and  for  my  pardon  if  I  can  get  it." 

"But  whither  do  you  go,  dear  Freydis?"  Dom 
Manuel  spoke  as  though  he  again  felt  quite  fond  of 
her. 

"What  does  that  matter/'  she  answered,  looking 
long  and  long  at  him,  "now  that  Count  Manuel  has 
no  further  need  of  me?"  Then  Freydis  looked  at 
Niafer,  lying  there  in  a  charmed  sleep.  "I  neither 
love  nor  entirely  hate  you,  ugly  and  lame  and  lean 


FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS  267 

and  fretful  Niafer,  but  assuredly  I  do  not  envy  you. 
You  are  welcome  to  your  fidgeting  gray  husband. 
My  husband  does  not  grow  old  and  tender-hearted 
and  subservient  to  me,  and  he  never  will."  There- 
after Freydis  bent  down  and  kissed  the  child  she 
had  christened.  "Some  day  you  will  be  a  woman, 
Melicent,  and  then  you  will  be  loving  some  man  or 
another  man.  I  could  hope  that  you  will  then  love 
the  man  who  will  make  you  happy,  but  that  sort  of 
man  has  not  yet  been  found." 

Dom  Manuel  came  to  her,  not  heeding  the  ac- 
cursed beasts  at  all,  and  he  took  both  the  hands  of 
Freydis  in  his  hands.  "My  dear,  and  do  you  think 
I  am  a  happy  man?" 

She  looked  up  at  him:  when  she  answered,  her 
voice  trembled.  "I  made  you  happy,  Manuel.  I 
would  have  made  you  happy  always." 

"I  wonder  if  you  would  have?  Ah,  well,  at  all 
events,  the  obligation  was  upon  me.  At  no  time  in 
a  man's  life,  I  find,  is  there  lacking  some  obligation 
or  another :  and  we  must  meet  each  as  we  best  can, 
not  hoping  to  succeed,  just  aiming  not  to  fall  short 
too  far.  No,  it  is  not  a  merry  pursuit.  And  it  is  a 
ruining  pursuit!" 

She  said,  "I  had  not  thought  ever  to  be  sorry  for 
you —  Why  should  I  grieve  for  you,  gray  traitor?" 

Harshly  he  answered :  "Oho,  I  am  not  proud  of 
what  I  have  made  of  my  life,  and  of  your  life,  and 


268  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

of  the  life  of  that  woman  yonder,  but  do  you  think 
I  will  be  whining  about  it !  No,  Freydis :  the  boy 
that  loved  and  deserted  you  is  here" — he  beat  upon 
his  breast, — "locked  in,  imprisoned  while  time  lasts, 
dying  very  lonelily.  Well,  I  am  a  shrewd  gaoler: 
he  shall  not  get  out.  No,  even  at  the  last,  dear 
Freydis,  there  is  the  bond  of  silence." 

She  said,  impotently,  "I  am  sorry —  Even  at  the 
last  you  contrive  for  me  a  new  sorrow — " 

For  a  moment  they  stood  looking  at  each  other, 
and  she  remembered  thereafter  his  sad  and  quizzical 
smiling.  These  two  had  nothing  more  to  share  in 
speech  or  deed. 

Then  Freydis  went  away,  and  the  accursed  beasts 
and  her  castle  too  went  with  her,  as  smoke  passes. 
Manuel  was  thus  left  standing  out  of  doors  in  a 
reaped  field,  alone  with  his  wife  and  child,  while 
Miramon's  ship  came  about.  Niafer  slept.  But 
now  the  child  awoke  to  regard  the  world  into  which 
she  had  been  summoned  willy-nilly,  and  the  child 
began  to  whimper. 

Dom  Manuel  patted  this  intimidating  small  crea- 
ture gingerly,  with  a  strong  comely  hand  from 
which  his  wedding  ring  was  missing.  That  would 
require  explanations.  So  it  is  probable  that  Dom 
Manuel  devoted  this  brief  waiting  in  a  reaped  field 
to  wondering  just  how  much  about  the  past  he  might 


FAREWELL  TO  FREYDIS  269 

judiciously  tell  his  wife  when  she  awoke  to  question 
him,  because  in  the  old  days  that  was  a  problem 
which  no  considerate  husband  failed  to  weigh  with 
care. 


Statecraft 


NOW  from  the  ship's  gangway  came  seven 
trumpeters  dressed  in  glistening  plaids :  each 
led  with  a  silver  chain  a  grayhound,  and 
each  of  the  seven  hounds  carried  in  his  mouth  an 
apple  of  gold.  After  these  followed  three  harp- 
players  and  three  clergymen  and  three  jesters,  all 
bearing  crested  staves  and  wearing  chaplets  of  roses. 
Then  Miramon  Lluagor,  lord  of  the  nine  sleeps  and 
prince  of  the  seven  madnesses,  comes  ashore.  An 
incredible  company  followed.  But  with  him  came 
his  wife  Gisele  and  their  little  child  Demetrios,  thus 
named  for  the  old  Count  of  Arnaye :  and  it  was  this 
boy  that,  they  say,  when  yet  in  swaddling-bands, 
was  appointed  to  be  the  slayer  of  his  own  father, 
wise  Miramon  Lluagor. 

Dame  Niafer  was  wakened,  and  the  two  women 
went  apart  to  compare  and  discuss  their  babies. 
They  put  the  children  in  one  cradle.  A  great  while 
afterward  were  these  two  again  to  lie  together  thus, 
and  therefrom  was  the  girl  to  get  long  sorrow,  and 
the  boy  his  death. 

Meanwhile  the  snub-nosed  lord  of  the  nine  sleeps 
270 


IS  OF  STATECRAFT  271 

and  the  squinting  Count  of  Poictesme  sat  down 
upon  the  river  bank  to  talk  about  more  serious 
matters  than  croup  and  teething.  The  sun  was  high 
by  this  time,  so  Kan  and  Muluc  and  Ix  and  Cauac 
came  in  haste  from  the  corners  of  the  world,  and 
held  up  a  blue  canopy  to  shelter  the  conferring  be- 
tween their  master  and  Dom  Manuel. 

"What  is  this,"  said  Miramon  Lluagor  to  Dom 
Manuel,  first  of  all,  "that  I  hear  of  your  alliance 
with  Philistia,  and  of  your  dickerings  with  a  people 
who  say  that  my  finest  designs  are  nothing  but  in- 
digestion?" 

"I  have  lost  Poictesme,"  says  Manuel,  "and  the 
Philistines  offer  to  support  me  in  my  pretensions." 

"But  that  will  never  do!  I  who  design  all 
dreams  can  never  consent  to  that,  and  no  Philistine 
must  ever  enter  Poictesme.  Why  did  you  not  come 
to  me  for  help  at  the  beginning,  instead  of  wasting 
time  upon  these  human  kings  and  queens  ?"  demands 
the  wizard,  fretfully.  "And  are  you  not  ashamed 
to  be  making  any  alliance  with  Philistia,  remember- 
ing how  you  used  to  follow  after  your  own  thinking 
and  your  own  desire?" 

"Well,"  Manuel  replies,  "I  have  had  as  yet  noth- 
ing save  fair  words  from  Philistia,  and  no  alliance 
is  concluded." 

"That  is  more  than  well.  Only,  let  us  be  orderly 
about  this.  Imprimis,  you  desire  Poictesme — " 


272  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No,  not  in  particular,  but  appearances  have  to 
be  preserved,  and  my  wife  thinks  it  would  look 
better  for  me  to  redeem  this  country  from  the  op- 
pression of  the  heathen  Northmen,  and  so  provide 
her  with  a  suitable  home." 

"Item,  then  I  must  obtain  this  country  for  you, 
because  there  is  no  sense  in  withstanding  our  wives 
in  such  matters." 

"I  rejoice  at  your  decision — " 

"Between  ourselves,  Manuel,  I  fancy  you  now  be- 
gin to  understand  the  reasons  which  prompted  me  to 
bring  you  the  magic  sword  Flamberge  at  the  begin- 
ning of  our  acquaintance,  and  have  learned  who  it 
is  that  wears  the  breeches  in  most  marriages." 

"No,  that  is  not  the  way  it  is  at  all,  Miramon,  for 
my  wife  is  the  dearest  and  most  dutiful  of  women, 
and  never  crosses  my  wishes  in  anything." 

Miramon  nodded  his  approval.  "You  are  quite 
right,  for  somebody  might  be  overhearing  us.  So, 
let  us  get  on,  and  do  you  stop  interrupting  me. 
Item,  you  must  hold  Poictesme,  and  your  heirs  for- 
ever after  must  hold  Poictesme,  not  in  fee  but  by 
feudal  tenure.  Item,  you  shall  hold  these  lands, 
not  under  any  saint  like  Ferdinand,  but  under  a  dif- 
ferent sort  of  liege-lord  whom  I  shall  appoint. 
Item,  he,  of  course,  shall  rule  in  everything  subject 
to  my  discretion  and  fancy,  and  be  controlled  by  me 
as  utterly  as  are  all  dreams," 


IS  OF  STATECRAFT  273 

"So  that  the  tribute  be  reasonable,  I  see  no  objec- 
tion to  your  terms  thus  far.  But  who  is  to  be  my 
overlord  ?" 

"A  person  whom  you  may  remember,"  replied 
Miramon,  and  he  beckoned  toward  the  rainbow 
throng  of  his  followers. 

One  of  them  at  this  signal  came  forward.  He 
was  a  tall  lean  youngster,  with  ruddy  cheeks,  wide- 
set  brown  eyes,  and  a  smallish  head  covered  with 
crisp,  tightly-curling  dark  red  hair:  and  Manuel 
recognized  him  at  once,  because  Manuel  had  every 
reason  to  remember  the  queer  talk  he  had  held  with 
this  Horvendile  just  after  Niafer  had  ridden  away 
with  Miramon's  dreadful  brother. 

"But  do  you  not  think  that  this  Horvendile  is  in- 
sane ?"  Dom  Manuel  asked  the  wizard  privately. 

"I  am  sure  that  he  often  has  that  appearance/' 

"Then  why  do  you  make  him  my  overlord  ?" 

"I  have  my  reasons,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  and 
if  I  do  not  talk  about  them  you  may  be  sure  that 
for  this  too  I  have  my  reasons." 

"But  is  this  Horvendile,  then,  one  of  the  Leshy? 
Is  he  the  Horvendile  whose  great-toe  is  the  morning 
star?" 

"I  may  tell  you  that  it  was  he  who  summoned  me 
to  help  you  in  your  distress,  of  which  I  had  not 
heard  upon  Vraidex,  but  why  should  I  tell  you  any 
more,  Dom  Manuel?  Come,  is  it  not  enough  that 


274  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

I  am  offering  you  a  province  and  comparatively 
tranquil  terms  of  living  with  your  wife,  that  you 
must  have  all  my  old  secrets  to  boot  ?" 

"You  are  right,"  says  Manuel,  "and  prospective 
benefactors  must  be  humored."  So  he  rested  con- 
tent with  his  ignorance,  nor  did  he  ever  find  out 
about  Horvendile,  though  later  Manuel  must  have 
had  horrible  suspicions. 

Meanwhile  Dom  Manuel  affably  shook  hands 
with  the  red-headed  boy,  and  spoke  of  their  first 
meeting.  "And  I  believe  you  were  not  talking  utter 
foolishness  after  all,  my  lad,"  says  Manuel,  laugh- 
ing, "for  I  have  learned  that  the  strange  and 
dangerous  thing  which  you  told  me  is  very  often 
true." 

"Why,  how  should  I  know,"  quiet  Horvendile  re- 
plied, "when  I  am  talking  foolishness  and  when 
not?" 

Manuel  said :  "Still,  I  can  understand  your  talk- 
ing only  in  part.  Well,  but  it  is  not  right 'for  us  to 
understand  our  overlords,  and,  madman  or  not,  I 
prefer  you  to  Queen  Stultitia  and  her  preposterous 
rose-colored  spectacles.  So  let  us  proceed  in  due 
form,  and  draw  up  the  articles  of  our  agreement." 

This  was  done,  and  they  formally  subscribed  the 
terms  under  which  Dom  Manuel  and  the  descend- 
ants of  Dom  Manuel  were  to  hold  Poictesme  per- 
petually in  fief  to  Horvendile.  Now  this  was  the 


IS  OF  STATECRAFT  275 

most  secret  sort  of  compact,  and  to  divulge  its  ten 
stipulations  would  even  now  be  most  disastrous. 
So  the  terms  of  this  compact  were  never  made 
public,  and  all  men  remained  at  no  larger  liberty  to 
criticize  its  provisos  than  was  Dom  Manuel,  upon 
whom  marrying  had  put  the  obligation  to  provide, 
in  one  way  or  another,  for  his  wife  and  child. 


32* 

The  Redemption  of  Poictesme 


WHEN  these  matters  were  concluded,  and 
the   future  of   Poictesme  had   been   ar- 
ranged  in   every   detail,    then    Miramon 
Lluagor's  wife  told  him  that  long  words  and  ink- 
bottles  and  red  seals  were  well  enough  for  men  to 
play  with,  but  that  it  was  high  time  something  sensi- 
ble was  done  in  this  matter,  unless  they  expected 
Niafer  to  bring  up  the  baby  in  a  ditch. 

The  wizard  said,  "Yes,  my  darling,  you  are  quite 
right,  and  I  will  see  to  it  the  first  thing  after 
dinner." 

He  then  said  to  Dom  Manuel,  "Now  Horvendile 
informs  me  that  you  were  duly  born  in  a  cave  at 
about  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice,  of  a  virgin 
mother  and  of  a  father  who  was  not  human." 

Manuel  replied,  "Certainly  that  is  true.  But  why 
do  you  now  stir  up  these  awkward  old  stories  ?" 

"You  have  duly  wandered  from  place  to  place, 
bringing  wisdom  and  holiness  to  men — " 

"That  also  is  generally  known." 

"You  have  duly  performed  miracles,  such  as  re- 
viving dead  persons  and  so  on — " 

276 


POICTESME  REDEEMED  277 

"That  too  is  undeniable." 

"You  have  duly  sojourned  with  evil  in  a  desert 
place,  and  have  there  been  tempted  to  despair  and 
blaspheme  and  to  commit  other  iniquities." 

"Yes,  something  of  the  sort  did  occur  in  Dun 
Vlechlan." 

"And,  as  I  well  know,  you  have  by  your  conduct 
of  affairs  upon  Vraidex  duly  disconcerted  me,  who 
am  the  power  of  darkness — " 

"Ah !  ah !  you,  Miramon,  are  then  the  power  of 
darkness !" 

"I  control  all  dreams  and  madnesses,  Manuel,  and 
these  are  the  main  powers  of  darkness." 

Dom  Manuel  seemed  dubious,  but  Manuel  only 
said :  "Well,  let  us  get  on !  It  is  true  that  all  these 
things  have  happened  to  me  somehow." 

The  wizard  looked  at  the  tall  warrior  for  a  while, 
and  in  the  dark  soft  eyes  of  Miramon  Lluagor  was 
a  queer  sort  of  compassion.  Miramon  said,  "Yes, 
Manuel,  these  portents  have  marked  your  living  thus 
far,  just  as  they  formerly  distinguished  the  begin- 
nings of  Mithras  and  of  Huitzilopochtli  and  of 
Tammouz  and  of  Heracles — " 

"Yes,  but  what  does  it  matter  if  these  accidents 
did  happen  to  me,  Miramon?" 

" — As  they  happened  to  Gautama  and  to  Dionysos 
and  to  Krishna  and  to  all  other  reputable  re- 
deemers/' Miramon  continued 


278  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Well,  well,  all  this  is  granted.  But  what,  pray, 
am  I  to  deduce  from  all  this  ?" 

Miramon  told  him. 

Dom  Manuel,  at  the  end  of  Miramon's  speaking, 
looked  peculiarly  solemn,  and  Manuel  said :  "I  had 
thought  the  transformation  surprising  enough  when 
King  Ferdinand  was  turned  into  a  saint,  but  this 
tops  all!  Either  way,  Miramon,  you  point  out  an 
obligation  so  tremendous  that  the  less  said  about  it 
the  wiser,  and  the  sooner  this  obligation  is  dis- 
charged and  the  ritual  fulfilled,  the  more  comfort- 
able it  will  be  for  everybody." 

So  Manuel  went  away  with  Miramon  Lluagor 
into  a  secret  place,  and  there  Dom  Manuel  submitted 
to  that  which  was  requisite,  and  what  happened  is 
not  certainly  known.  But  this  much  is  known,  that 
Manuel  suffered,  and  afterward  passed  three  days 
in  an  underground  place,  and  came  forth  on  the 
third  day. 

Then  Miramon  said:  "All  this  being  duly  per- 
formed and  well  rid  of,  we  do  not  now  violate  any 
messianic  etiquette  if  we  forthwith  set  about  the 
redemption  of  Poictesme.  Now  then,  would  you 
prefer  to  redeem  with  the  forces  of  good  or  with  the 
forces  of  evil  ?" 

"Not  with  the  forces  of  evil,"  said  Manuel,  "for 
I  saw  many  of  these  in  the  high  woods  of  Dun 
Vlechlan,  and  I  do  not  fancy  them  as  allies.  But 


POICTESME  REDEEMED  279 

are  good  and  evil  all  one  to  you  of  the  Leshy?" 

"Why  should  we  tell  you,  Manuel?"  says  the 
wizard. 

"That,  Miramon,  is  a  musty  reply." 

"It  is  not  a  reply,  it  is  a  question.  And  the  ques- 
tion has  become  musty  because  it  has  been  handled 
so  often,  and  no  man  has  ever  been  able  to  dispose 
of  it." 

Manuel  gave  it  up,  and  shrugged.  "Well,  let  us 
conquer  as  we  may,  so  that  God  be  on  our  side." 

Miramon  replied:  "Never  fear!  He  shall  be, 
in  every  shape  and  attribute." 

So  Miramon  did  what  was  requisite,  and  from 
the  garrets  and  dustheaps  of  Vraidex  came  strong 
allies.  For  to  begin  with,  Miramon  dealt  unusually 
with  a  little  fish,  and  as  a  result  of  these  dealings 
came  to  them,  during  the  afternoon  of  the  last 
Thursday  in  September,  as  they  stood  on  the  sea- 
shore north  of  Manneville,  a  darkly  colored  cham- 
pion clad  in  yellow.  He  had  four  hands,  in  which 
he  carried  a  club,  a  shell,  a  lotus  and  a  discus;  and 
he  rode  on  a  white  stallion: 

Manuel  said,  "This  is  a  good  omen,  that  the 
stallion  of  Poictesme  should  have  aid  brought  to  it 
by  another  stallion." 

"Let  us  not  speak  of  this  white  stallion,"  Mira- 
mon hastily  replied,  "for  until  this  Yuga  is  over  he 
has  no  name.  But  when  the  minds  of  all  men  are 


280  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

made  clear  as  crystal  then  a  christening  will  be  ap- 
pointed for  this  stallion,  and  his  name  will  be 
Kalki." 

"Well/5  Manuel  said,  "that  seems  fair  enough. 
So  it  is  with  this  dusky  gentleman's  assistance,  I 
gather,  that  we  are  to  redeem  Poictesme." 

"Oh,  no,  Dom  Manuel,  he  is  but  the  first  of  our 
redeemers,  for  there  is  nothing  like  the  decimal 
system,  and  you  will  remember  it  was  in  our  treaty 
that  in  Poictesme  all  things  are  to  go  by  tens  for- 
ever/' 

Thereafter  Miramon  did  what  was  requisite  with 
some  acorns,  and  the  splutterings  were  answered  by 
low  thunder.  So  came  a  second  champion  to  aid 
them.  This  was  a  pleasant  looking  young  fellow 
with  an  astonishingly  red  beard:  he  had  a  basket 
slung  over  his  shoulder,  and  he  carried  a  bright 
hammer.  He  rode  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  four 
goats. 

"Come,  this  is  certainly  a  fine  stalwart  fighting- 
man,"  says  Manuel,  "and  to-day  is  a  lucky  day  for 
me,  and  for  this  ruddy  gentleman  also,  I  hope." 

"To-day  is  always  his  day,"  Miramon  replied, 
"and  do  you  stop  interrupting  me  in  my  incanta- 
tions, and  hand  me  that  flute." 

So  Manuel  stayed  as  silent  as  that  brace  of 
monstrous  allies  while  Miramon  did  yet  another 
curious  thing  with  a  flute  and  a  palm-branch. 


POICTESME  REDEEMED  281 

Thereafter  came  an  amber-colored  champion  clad  in 
dark  green,  and  carrying  a  club  and  a  noose  for  the 
souls  of  the  dead.  He  rode  upon  a  buffalo,  and 
with  him  came  an  owl  and  a  pigeon. 

"I  think—"  said  Manuel. 

"You  do  not/'  said  Miramon :  "you  only  talk  and 
fidget,  because  you  are  upset  by  the  appearance  of 
your  allies,  and  such  talking  and  fidgeting  is  very 
disturbing  to  an  artist  who  is  striving  to  reanimate 
the  past." 

Thus  speaking,  Miramon  turned  indignantly  to 
another  evocation.  It  summoned  a  champion  in  a 
luminous  chariot  drawn  by  scarlet  mares.  He  was 
golden-haired,  with  ruddy  limbs,  and  was  armed 
with  a  bow  and  arrows:  he  too  was  silent,  but  he 
laughed,  and  you  saw  that  he  had  several  tongues. 
After  him  came  a  young  shining  man  who  rode  on 
a  boar  with  golden  bristles  and  bloodied  hoofs :  this 
warrior  carried  a  naked  sword,  and  on  his  back, 
fc.ded  up  like  a  cloth,  was  a  ship  to  contain  the  gods 
and  all  living  creatures.  And  the  sixth  redeemer 
was  a  tall  shadow-colored  person  with  two  long 
gray  flumes  affixed  to  his  shaved  head :  he  carried  a 
sceptre;  and  a  thing  which,  Miramon  said,  was  called 
an  aankh,  and  the  beast  he  rode  on  was  surprising 
to  observe,  for  it  had  the  body  of  a  beetle,  with 
human  arms,  and  the  head  of  a  ram,  and  the  four 
feet  of  a  lion. 


282  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Come,"  Manuel  said,  "but  I  have  never  seen  just 
such  a  steed  as  that." 

"No,"  Miramon  replied,  "nor  has  anybody  else, 
for  this  is  the  Hidden  One.  But  do  you  stop  your 
eternal  talking,  and  pass  me  the  salt  and  that  young 
crocodile." 

With  these  two  articles  Miramon  dealt  so  as  to 
evoke  a  seventh  ally.  Serpents  were  about  the 
throat  and  arms  of  this  champion,  and  he  wore  a 
necklace  of  human  skulls:  his  long  black  hair  was 
plaited  remarkably ;  his  throat  was  blue,  his  body  all 
a  livid  white  except  where  it  was  smeared  with 
ashes.  Next,  riding  on  a  dappled  stag,  came  one 
appareled  in  vivid  stripes  of  yellow  and  red  and 
blue  and  green:  his  face  was  dark  as  a  raincloud, 
he.  had  one  large  round  eye,  white  tusks  protruded 
from  his  lips,  and  he  carried  a  gaily  painted  urn. 
His  unspeakable  attendants  leaped  like  frogs.  The 
jolliest  looking  of  all  the  warriors  came  thereafter, 
with  a  dwarfish  body  and  very  short  legs;  he  had 
a  huge  black-bearded  head,  a  flat  nose,  and  his 
tongue  hung  from  his  mouth  and  waggled  as  he 
moved.  He  wore  a  belt  and  a  necklace,  and  nothing 
else  whatever  except  the  plumes  of  the  hawk  ar- 
ranged as  a  head-dress :  and  he  rode  on  a  great  sleek 
tortoise-shell  cat. 

Now  when  these  unusual  appearing  allies  stood 
silently  aligned  before  them  on  the  seashore,  Dom 


POICTESME  REDEEMED  283 

Manuel  said,  with  a  polite  bow  toward  this  appalling 
host,  that  he  hardly  thought  Duke  Asmund  would 
be  able  to  withstand  such  redeemers.  But  Miramon 
repeated  that  there  was  nothing  like  the  decimal 
system. 

"That  brother  of  mine,  who  is  lord  of  the  tenth 
kind  of  sleeping,  would  nicely  round  off  this  dizain/' 
says  Miramon,  scratching  his  chin,  "if  only  he  had 
not  such  a  commonplace,  black-and-white  appear- 
ance, apart  from  being  one  of  those  dreadful  Real- 
ists, without  a  scrap  of  aesthetic  feeling —  No,  I 
like  color,  and  we  will  levy  now  upon  the  West!" 

So  Miramon  dealt  next  with  a  little  ball  of  bright 
feathers.  Then  a  last  helper  came  to  them,  riding 
on  a  jaguar,  and  carrying  a  large  drum  and  a  flute 
from  which  his  music  issued  in  the  shape  of  flames. 
This  champion  was  quite  black,  but  he  was  striped 
with  blue  paint,  and  golden  feathers  grew  all  over 
his  left  leg.  He  wore  a  red  coronet  in  the  shape 
of  a  r9se,  a  short  skirt  of  green  paper,  and  white 
sandafy;  and  he  carried  a  red  shield  that  had  in  its 
centre  a  white  flower  with  the  four  petals  placed 
crosswise.  Such  was  he  who  made  up  the  tenth. 

Now  when  this  terrible  dizain  was  completed  the 
lord  of  the  seven  madnesses  laid  fire  to  a  wisp  of 
straw,  and  he  cast  it  to  the  winds,  saying  that  thus 
should  the  anger  of  Miramon  Lluagor  pass  over  the 
land.  Then  he  turned  to  these  dreadful  ten  whom 


284  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

he  had  revivified  from  the  dustheaps  and  garrets  of 
Vraidex,  and  it  became  apparent  that  Miramon  was 
deeply  moved. 

Said  Miramon : 

"You,  whom  I  made  for  man's  worship  when 
earth  was  younger  and  fairer,  hearken,  and  learn 
why  I  breathe  new  life  into  husks  from  my  scrap- 
heaps!  Gods  of  old  days,  discrowned,  disjected, 
and  treated  as  rubbish,  hark  to  the  latest  way  of  the 
folk  whose  fathers  you  succored!  They  have  dis- 
carded you  utterly.  Such  as  remember  deride  you, 
saying: 

5  The  brawling  old  lords  that  our  grandfathers 
honored  have  perished,  if  they  indeed  were  ever 
more  than  some  curious  notions  bred  of  our  grand- 
fathers' questing,  that  looked  to  find  God  in  each 
rainstorm  coming  to  nourish  their  barley,  and  God 
in  the  heat-bringing  sun,  and  God  in  the  earth  which 
gave  life.  Even  so  was  each  hour  of  their  living 
touched  with  odd  notions  of  God  and  with  lunacies 
as  to  God's  kindness.  We  are  more  sensible  people, 
for  we  understand  all  about  the  freaks  of  the  wind 
and  the  weather,  and  find  them  in  no  way  astound- 
ing. As  for  whatever  gods  may  exist,  they  are 
civil,  in  that  they  let  us  alone  in  our  life-time;  and 
so  we  return  their  politeness,  knowing  that  what  we 
are  doing  on  earth  is  important  enough  to  need  un- 
divided attention.' 


POICTESME  REDEEMED  285 

"Such  are  the  folk  that  deride  you,  such  are  the 
folk  that  ignore  the  gods  whom  Miramon  fashioned, 
such  are  the  folk  whom  to-day  I  permit  you  freely 
to  deal  with  after  the  manner  of  gods.  Do  you 
now  make  the  most  of  your  chance,  and  devastate 
all  Poictesme  in  time  for  an  earlyish  supper !" 

The  faces  of  these  ten  became  angry,  and  they 
shouted  terribly,  "Blaerde  Shay  Alphenio  Kasbue 
Gorfons  Albuifrio!" 

All  ten  went  up  together  from  the  sea,  traveling 
more  swiftly  than  men  travel,  and  what  afterward 
happened  in  Poictesme  was  for  a  long  while  a  story 
very  fearful  to  hear  and  heard  everywhere. 

Manuel  did  not  witness  any  of  the  tale's  making 
as  he  waited  alone  on  the  seashore.  But  the  land 
was  sick,  and  its  nausea  heaved  under  Manuel's 
wounded  feet,  and  he  saw  that  the  pale,  gurgling, 
glistening  ^ea  appeared  to  crawl  away  from  Poic- 
tesme slimlly.  And  at  Bellegarde  and  Naimes  and 
Storisende  and  Lisuarte,  and  in  all  the  strongly 
fortified  inland  places,  Asmund's  tall  fighting-men 
beheld  one  or  another  of  the  angry  faces  which 
came  up  from  the  sea,  and  many  died  swiftly,  as 
must  always  happen  when  anybody  revives  dis- 
carded dreams,  nor  did  any  of  the  Northmen  die  in 
a  shape  recognizable  as  human. 

When  the  news  was  brought  to  Dom  Manuel  that 
his  redemption  of  Poictesme  was  completed,  then 


286  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Dom  Manuel  unarmed,  and  made  himself  present- 
able in  a  tunic  of  white  damask  and  a  girdle  adorned 
with  garnets  and  sapphires.  He  slipped  over  his 
left  shoulder  a  baldric  set  with  diamonds  and  emer- 
alds to  sustain  the  unbloodied  sword  with  which  he 
had  conquered  here  as  upon  Vraidex.  Over  all  he 
put  on  a  crimson  mantle.  Then  the  former  swine- 
herd concealed  his  hands,  not  yet  quite  healed,  with 
white  gloves,  of  which  the  one  was  adorned  with  a 
ruby,  and  the  other  with  a  sapphire;  and,  sighing, 
Manuel  the  Redeemer  (as  he  was  called  thereafter) 
entered  into  his  kingdom,  and  they  of  Poictesme 
received  him  far  more  gladly  than  he  them. 

Thus  did  Dom  Manuel  enter  into  the  imprison- 
ment of  his  own  castle  and  into  the  bonds  of  high 
estate,  from  which  he  might  not  easily  get  free  to 
go  a-traveling  everywhither,  and  see  the  ends  of 
this  world  and  judge  them.  And  they  say  that  in 
her  low  red-pillared  palace  Suskind  smiled  con- 
tentedly and  made  ready  for  the  future. 


PART  FIVE 
THE  BOOK  OF  SETTLEMENT 


TO 

JOSEPH  HERGESHEIMER. 


"Thus  Manuel  reigned  in  vertue  and 
honoure  with  that  noble  Ladye  his  wyf e : 
and  he  was  beloued  and  dradde  of  high 
and  lowe  degree,  for  he  dyde  ryghte  and 
iustice  according  to  the  auncient  Manner, 
kepynge  hys  land  in  dignitie  and  goode 
Appearaunce,  and  hauynge  the  highest 
place  in  hys  tyme." 


33* 

Now  Manuel  Prospers 


THEY  of  Poictesme  narrate  fine  tales  as  to  the 
deeds  that  Manuel  the  Redeemer  performed 
and  incited  in  the  days  of  his  reign.     They 
tell  also  many  things  that  seem  improbable,  and 
therefore  are  not  included  in  this  book :  for  the  old 
songs  and  tales  incline  to  make  of  Count  Manuel's 
heyday  a  rare  golden  age. 

So  many  glorious  exploits  are,  indeed,  accredited 
to  Manuel  and  to  the  warriors  whom  he  gathered 
round  him — among  these,  H olden  and  courteous 
Anavalt  and  Coth  the  Alderman  and  Gonfal  and 
Donander  had  the  pre-eminence,  but  all  were  hardy, 
— that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  so  brief  a 
while  could  have  contained  so  many  doings.  But 
the  tale-tellers  of  Poictesme  have  been  long  used  to 
say  of  a  fine  action — not  falsely,  but  misleadingly, 
— "Thus  it  was  in  Count  Manuel's  time,"  and  the 
tribute  by  and  by  has  been  accepted  as  a  dating.  So 
has  chronology  been  hacked  to  make  loftier  his 
fame,  and  the  glory  of  Dom  Manuel  has  been  a  mag- 
net that  has  drawn  to  itself  the  magnanimities  of 

other  days  and  years. 

289 


290  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

But  there  is  no  need  here  to  speak  of  these 
legends,  because  these  stories  are  recorded  else- 
where. Some  may  be  true,  the  others  are  certainly 
not  true;  but  it  is  indisputable  that  Count  Manuel 
grew  steadily  in  power  and  wealth  and  proud  re- 
pute. Kings  now  were  his  co-partners,  and  the 
former  swineherd  had  somehow  become  the  fair  and 
trusty  cousin  of  emperors.  And  Madame  Niafer, 
the  great  Count's  wife,  was  everywhere  stated,  with- 
out any  contradiction  from  her,  to  be  daughter  to 
the  late  Soldan  of  Barbary. 

Guivric  the  Sage  illuminated  the  tree  which 
showed  the  glorious  descent  of  Dame  Niafer  from 
Kaiumarth,  the  first  of  all  kings,  and  the  first  to 
teach  men  to  build  houses:  and  this  tree  hung  in 
the  main  hall  of  Storisende.  "For  even  if  some 
errors  may  have  crept  in  here  and  there,"  said  Dame 
Niafer,  "it  looks  very  well." 

"But,  my  dear,"  said  Manuel,  "your  father  was 
not  the  Soldan  of  Barbary:  instead,  he  was  the 
second  groom  at  Arnaye,  and  all  this  lineage  is  a 
preposterous  fabrication." 

"I  said  just  now  that  some  errors  may  have  crept 
in  here  and  there,"  assented  Dame  Niafer,  com- 
posedly, "but  the  point  is,  that  the  thing  really  looks 
very  well,  and  I  do  not  suppose  that  even  you  deny 
that." 


MANUEL  PROSPERS  291 

"No,  I  do  not  deny  that  this  glowing  mendacity 
adds  to  the  hall's  appearance." 

"So  now,  you  see  for  yourself !"  said  Niafer, 
triumphantly.  And  after  that  her  new  ancestry  was 
never  questioned. 

And  in  the  meanwhile  Dom  Manuel  had  sent  mes- 
sengers over  land  and  sea  to  his  half-sister  Math  at 
Rathgor,  bidding  her  sell  the  mill  for  what  it  would 
fetch.  She  obeyed,  and  brought  to  Manuel's  court 
her  husband  and  their  two  boys,  the  younger  of 
whom  rose  later  to  be  Pope  of  Rome.  Manuel 
gave  the  miller  the  vacant  fief  of  Montors;  and 
thereafter  you  could  nowhere  have  found  a  statelier 
fine  lady  than  the  Countess  Matthiette  de  Montors. 
She  was  still  used  to  speak  continually  of  what  was 
becoming  to  people  of  our  station  in  life,  but  it  was 
with  a  large  difference;  and  she  got  on  with  Niafer 
as  well  as  could  be  expected,  but  no  better. 

And  in  the  autumn  of  the  first  year  of  Manuel's 
reign  (just  after  Dom  Manuel  fetched  to  Storisende 
the  Sigil  of  Scoteia,  as  the  spoils  of  his  famous  fight 
with  Oriander  the  Swimmer),  the  stork  brought  to 
Niafer  the  first  of  the  promised  boys.  For  the 
looks  of  the  thing,  this  child  was  named  Emmerick, 
in  honor  of  Manuel's  nominal  father:  and  it  was 
this  Emmerick  that  afterward  reigned  long  and 
notably  in  Poictesme. 


292  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

So  matters  went  prosperously  with  Dom  Manuel, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  trouble  his  peace  of  mind, 
unless  it  were  some  feeling  of  responsibility  for  the 
cult  of  Sesphra,  whose  worship  was  now  increasing 
everywhere  among  the  nations.  In  Philistia,  in 
particular,  Sesphra  was  now  worshipped  openly  in 
the  legislative  halls  and  churches,  and  all  other  re- 
ligion, and  all  decency,  was  smothered  under  the 
rituals  of  Sesphra.  Everywhere  to  the  west  and 
north  his  followers  were  delivering  windy  discourses 
and  performing  mad  antics,  and  great  hurt  came  of 
it  all  by  and  by.  But  if  this  secretly  troubled  Dom 
Manuel,  the  Count,  here  as  elsewhere,  exercised  to 
good  effect  his  invaluable  gift  for  holding  his 
tongue. 

Nor  did  he  ever  speak  of  Freydis  either,  though 
it  is  recorded  that  when  news  came  of  the  end  which 
she  had  made  in  Teamhair  under  the  oppression  of 
the  Druids  and  the  satirists,  Dom  Manuel  went 
silently  into  the  Room  of  Ageus,  and  was  not  seen 
any  more  that  day.  That  in  such  solitude  he  wept 
is  improbable,  for  his  hard  vivid  eyes  had  forgotten 
this  way  of  exercise,  but  it  is  highly  probable  that 
he  remembered  many  things,  and  found  not  all  of 
them  to  his  credit. 

So  matters  went  prosperously  with  gray  Manuel, 
and  he  had  lofty  palaces  and  fair  woods  and  pas- 
tures and  ease  and  content :  to  crown  all  which  the 


MANUEL  PROSPERS  293 

stork  presently  brought  them  the  second  girl,  whom 
they  named  Dorothy,  for  Manuel's  mother.  And 
just  at  this  time  too,  came  a  young  poet  from  Eng- 
land (Ribaut  they  called  him,  and  he  met  an  evil 
end  at  Coventry  not  long  thereafter),  bringing  to 
Dom  Manuel,  where  the  high  Count  sat  at  supper, 
a  goose-feather. 

The  Count  smiled,  and  he  twirled  the  thing  be- 
tween his  fingers,  and  he  meditated.  He  shrugged, 
and  said:  "Needs  must.  But  for  her  ready  wit, 
my  head  would  have  been  set  to  dry  on  a  silver 
pike.  I  cannot  well  ignore  that  obligation,  if  she, 
as  it  now  seems,  does  not  intend  to  ignore  it." 

Then  he  told  Niafer  he  must  go  into-  England. 

Niafer  looked  up  from  the  marmalade  with  which 
she  was  finishing  off  her  supper,  to  ask  placidly, 
"And  what  does  that  dear  yellow-haired  friend  of 
yours  want  with  you  now  ?" 

"My  dear,  if  I  knew  the  answer  to  that  question 
it  would  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  travel  over- 


sea." 


"It  is  easy  enough  to  guess,  though,"  Dame 
Niafer  said  darkly,  although,  in  point  of  fact,  she 
too  was  wondering  why  Alianora  should  have  sent 
for  Manuel,  "and  I  can  quite  understand  how  in 
your  sandals  you  prefer  not  to  have  people  know 
about  such  doings,  and  laughing  at  you  every- 
where." 


294  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Dom  Manuel  did  not  reply ;  but  he  sighed. 

" — And  if  any  importance  whatever  were  at- 
tached to  my  opinion  in  this  house  I  might  be  saying 
a  few  things ;  but,  as  it  is,  it  is  much  more  agreeable, 
all  around,  to  let  you  go  your  own  hard-headed  way 
and  find  out  by  experience  that  what  I  say  is  true. 
So  now,  Manuel,  if  you  do  not  mind,  I  think  we 
had  better  be  talking  about  something  else  a  little 
more  pleasant." 

Dom  Manuel  still  did  not  say  anything.  The 
time,  as  has  been  noted,  was  just  after  supper,  and 
as  the  high  Count  and  his  wife  sat  over  the 
remnants  of  this  meal,  a  minstrel  was  making  music 
for  them. 

"You  are  not  very  cheerful  company,  I  must  say/' 
Niafer  observed,  in  a  while,  "although  I  do  not  for 
a  moment  doubt  your  yellow-haired  friend  will  find 
you  gay  enough — " 

"No,  Niafer,  I  am  not  happy  to-night." 

"Yes,  and  whose  fault  is  it?  I  told  you  not  to 
take  two  helpings  of  that  beef." 

"No,  no,  dear  snip,  it  is  not  indigestion,  but  rather 
it  is  that  music,  which  is  plaguing  me." 

"Now,  Manuel,  how  can  music  bother  anybody! 
I  am  sure  the  boy  plays  his  violin  very  nicely  in- 
deed, especially  when  you  consider  his  age." 

Said  Manuel: 

"Yes,  but  the  long  low  sobbing  of  the  violin, 


MANUEL  PROSPERS  295 

troubling  as  the  vague  thoughts  begotten  by  that 
season  wherein  summer  is  not  yet  perished  from  the 
earth,  but  lingers  wanly  in  the  tattered  shrines  of 
summer,  speaks  of  what  was  and  of  what  might 
have  been.  A  blind  desire,  the  same  which  on 
warm  moonlit  nights  was  used  to  shake  like  fever 
in  the  veins  of  a  boy  whom  I  remember,  is  futilely 
plaguing  a  gray  fellow  with  the  gray  wraiths  of 
innumerable  old  griefs  and  with  small  stinging 
memories  of  long-dead  delights.  Such  thirsting 
breeds  no  good  for  staid  and  aging  men,  but  my  lips 
are  athirst  for  lips  whose  loveliness  no  longer  exists 
in  flesh,  and  I  thirst  for  a  dead  time  and  its  dead 
fervors  to  be  reviving,  so  that  young  Manuel  may 
love  again. 

"To-night  now  surely  somewhere,  while  this 
music  sets  uncertain  and  probing  fingers  to  healed 
wounds,  an  aging  woman,  in  everything  a  stranger 
to  me,  is  troubled  just  thus  futilely,  and  she  too  re- 
members what  she  half  forgets.  'We  that  of  old 
were  one,  and  shuddered  heart  to  heart,  with  our 
young  lips  and  our  souls  too  made  indivisible/ — 
thus  she  is  thinking,  as  I  think,— 'has  life  dealt 
candidly  in  leaving  us  to  potter  with  half  measures 
and  to  make  nothing  of  severed  lives  that  shrivel 
far  apart?'  Yes,  she  to-night  is  sad  as  I,  it  well 
may  be;  but  I  cannot  rest  certain  of  this,  because 
there  is  in  young  love  a  glory  so  bedazzling  as  to 


296  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

prevent  the  lover  from  seeing  clearly  his  co-wor- 
shipper, and  therefore  in  that  dear  time  when  we 
served  love  together  I  learned  no  more  of  her  than 
she  of  me. 

"Of  all  my  failures  this  is  bitterest  to  bear,  that 
out  of  so  much  grieving  and  aspiring  I  have  gained 
no  assured  knowledge  of  the  woman  herself,  but 
must  perforce  become  lachrymose  over  such  per- 
ished tinsels  as  her  quivering  red  lips  and  shining 
hair!  Of  youth  and  love  is  there  no  more,  then, 
to  be  won  than  virginal  breasts  and  a  small  white 
belly  yielded  to  the  will  of  the  lover,  and  brief 
drunkenness,  and  afterward  such  puzzled  yearning 
as  now  dies  into  acquiescence,  very  much  as  the  long 
low  sobbing  of  that  violin  yonder  dies  into  stillness 
now  the  song  is  done  ?" 

So  it  was  that  gray  Manuel  talked  in  a  half  voice, 
sitting  there  resplendently  robed  in  gold  and  crim- 
son, and  twiddling  between  his  fingers  a  goose- 
feather. 

"Yes,"  Niafer  said,  presently,  "but,  for  my  part, 
I  think  he  plays  very  nicely  indeed." 

Manuel  gave  an  abrupt  slight  jerking  of  the 
head.  Dom  Manuel  laughed.  "Dear  snip,"  said 
he,  "come,  honestly  now,  what  have  you  been  medi- 
tating about  while  I  talked  nonsense?" 

"Why,  I  was  thinking  I  must  remember  to  look 
over  your  flannels  the  first  thing  to-morrow,  Man- 


MANUEL  PROSPERS  297 

uel,  for  everybody  knows  what  that  damp  English 
climate  is  in  autumn — " 

"My  dearest,"  Manuel  said,  with  grave  convic- 
tion, "you  are  the  archetype  and  flawless  model  of 
all  wives." 


34- 

Farewell  to  Allan  or  a 


NOW  Dom  Manuel  takes  ship  and  goes  into 
England:  and  for  what  happened  there  we 
have  no  authority  save  the  account  which 
Dom  Manuel  rendered  on  his  return  to  his  wife. 

Thus  said  Dom  Manuel : 

He  went  straight  to  Woodstock,  where  the  King 
and  Queen  then  were.  At  Woodstock  Dom  Man- 
uel was  handsomely  received,  and  there  he  passed 
the  month  of  September — 

("Why  need  you  stay  so  long,  though?"  Dame 
Niafer  inquired. 

"Well"  Manuel  explained,  "one  thing  led  to  an- 
other, as  it  were." 

"H'm!"  Niafer  remarked.) 

He  had  presently  a  private  talk  with  the  Queen. 
How  was  she  dressed?  As  near  as  Manuel  re- 
called, she  wore  a  green  mantle  fastened  in  front 
with  a  square  fermoir  of  gems  and  wrought  gold; 
under  it,  a  close  fitting  gown  of  gold  diapered 
brocade,  with  tight  sleeves  so  long  that  they  half 
covered  her  hands,  something  like  mitts.  Her 
crown  was  of  floriated  trefoils  surmounting  a  band 

298 


ALIANORA'S  FAREWELL  299 

of  rubies.     Of  course,  though,  they  might  have  been 
only  garnets — 

("And  where  was  it  that  she  dressed  up  in  all 
this  finery  to  talk  with  you  in  private?" 

"Why,  at  Woodstock,  naturally" 

"I  know  it  was  at  Woodstock,  but  whereabouts  at 
Woodstock?" 

"It  was  by  a  window,  my  dear,  by  a  window  with 
panes  of  white  glass  and  wooden  lattices  and  a  pent 
covered  with  lead"  i 

"Your  account  is  very  circumstantial,  but  where 
was  the  window?" 

"Oh,  now  I  understand  you!    It  was  in  a  room" 

"What  sort  of  room?"  ' 

"Well,  the  walls  were  covered  with  gay  frescoes 
from  Saxon  history;  the  fireplace  was  covered  with 
very  handsomely  carvetd  stone  dragons;  and  the 
floor  was  covered  with  new  rushes.  Indeed,  the 
Queen  has  one  of  the  neatest  bedrooms  I  have  ever 
seen" 

"Ah,  yes,"  said  Niafer:  "and  what  did  you  talk 
about  during  the  time  you  spent  there?") 

Well,  he  found  all  going  well  with  Queen  Alia- 
nora  (Dom  Manuel  continued)  except  that  she  had 
not  yet  provided  an  heir  for  the  English  throne,  and 
it  was  this  alone  which  was  troubling  her.  It  was 
on  account  of  this  that  she  had  sent  for  Count 
Manuel. 


300  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"It  is  considered  not  to  look  at  all  well,  after 
three  years  of  marriage,"  the  Queen  told  him,  "and 
people  are  beginning  to  say  a  number  of  unkind 
things." 

"It  is  the  common  fate  of  queens,"  Dom  Manuel 
replies,  "to  be  exposed  to  the  criticism  of  envious 
persons." 

"No,  do  not  be  brilliant  and  aphoristic,  Manuel, 
for  I  want  you  to  help  me  more  practically  in  this 
matter." 

"Very  willingly  will  I  help  you  if  I  can.  But 
how  can  I  ?" 

"Why,  you  must  assist  me  in  getting  a  baby — a 
boy  baby,  of  course." 

"I  am  willing  to  do  all  that  I  can,  because  cer- 
tainly it  does  not  look  well  for  you  to  have  no  son 
to  be  King  of  England.  But  how  can  I,  of  all  per- 
sons, help  you  in  this  affair?" 

"Now,  Manuel,  after  getting  three  children  you 
surely  ought  to  know  what  is  necessary!" 

Dom  Manuel  shook  a  gray  head.  "My  children 
came  from  a  source  which  is  exhausted." 

"That  would  be  deplorable  news  if  I  believed  it, 
but  I  am  sure  that  if  you  will  let  me  take  matters 
in  hand  I  can  convince  you  to  the  contrary — " 

"Well,  I  am  open  to  conviction." 

" — Although  I  scarcely  know  how  to  begin,  be- 


ALIANORA'S  FAREWELL  301 

cause  I  know  that  you  will  think  this  hard   on 
you—" 

He  took  her  hand.  Dom  Manuel  admitted  to 
Niafer  without  reserve  that  here  he  took  the 
Queen's  hand,  saying :  "Do  not  play  with  me  any 
longer,  Alianora,  for  you  must  see  plainly  that  I 
am  now  eager  to  serve  you.  So  do  not  be  embar- 
rassed, but  come  to  the  point,  and  I  will  do  what  I 
can." 

"Why,  Manuel,  both  you  and  I  know  perfectly 
well  that  you  hold  the  stork's  note  for  another  girl 
and  another  boy,  to  be  supplied  upon  demand  after 
the  manner  of  the  Philistines." 

"No,  not  upon  demand,  for  the  first  note  has  nine 
months  to  run,  and  the  other  falls  due  even  later. 
But  what  has  that  to  do  with  it?" 

"Now,  Manuel,  truly  I  hate  to  ask  this  of  you, 
but  my  need  is  desperate,  with  all  this  criticizing 
and  gossip.  So  for  old  time's  sake,  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  life  I  gave  you  as  a  Christmas  present, 
through  telling  my  dear  father  an  out-and-out  story, 
you  must  let  me  have  that  first  promissory  note,  and 
you  must  direct  the  stork  to  bring  the  boy  baby  to 
me  in  England,  and  not  to  your  wife  in  Poictesme." 

So  that  was  what  Dame  Alianora  had  wanted. 

("1  knew  that  all  along,"  observed  Dame  Niafer 
— untruthfully,  but  adhering  to  her  general  theory 


302  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

that  it  was  better  to  appear  omniscient  in  dealing 
with  one's  husband.) 

Well,  Dom  Manuel  was  grieved  by  the  notion  of 
being  parted  from  his  child  prior  to  its  birth,  but 
he  was  moved  alike  by  his  former  fondness  for 
Alianora,  and  by  his  indebtedness  to  her,  and  by  the 
obligation  that  was  on  him  to  provide  as  handsomely 
as  possible  for  his  son.  Nobody  could  dispute  that 
as  King  of  England  the  boy's  station  in  life  would 
be  immeasurably  above  the  rank  of  the  Count  of 
Poictesme's  younger  brother.  So  Manuel  made  a 
complaint  as  to  his  grief  and  as  to  Niafer's  grief  at 
thus  prematurely  losing  their  loved  son — 

("Shall  I  repeat  what  I  said,  my  dear?" 

"No,  Manuel,  I  never  understand  you  when  you 
are  trying  to  be  highflown  and  impressive") 

Well,  then,  Dom  Manuel  made  a  very  beautiful 
complaint,  but  in  the  outcome  Dom  Manuel  con- 
sented to  this  sacrifice. 

He  would  not  consent,  though,  to  remain  in  Eng- 
land, as  Alianora  wanted  him  to  do. 

"No,"  he  said,  nobly,  "it  would  not  look  at  all 
well  for  you  to  be  taking  me  as  your  lover,  and 
breaking  your  marriage-vows  to  love  nobody  but 
the  King.  No,  Alianora,  I  will  help  you  to  get  the 
baby  you  need,  inasmuch  as  I  am  indebted  to  you 
for  my  life  and  have  two  babies  to  spare,  but  I  am 
not  willing  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  breaking 


ALIANORA'S  FAREWELL  303 

of  your  marriage-vows,  because  it  is  a  crime  which 
is  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  which 
Niafer  would  certainly  hear  sooner  or  later." 

("Oh,  Manuel,  you  did  not  say  that!" 

"My  dear,  those  were  my  exact  words.  And 
why  not?" 

"That  was  putting  it  sensibly  of  course,  but  it 
would  have  sounded  much  better  if  you  had  ex- 
pressed yourself  entirely  upon  moral  grounds.  It 
is  most  important,  Manuel,  as  I  am  sure  I  have  told 
you  over  and  over  again,  for  people  in  our  position 
to  show  a  proper  respect  for  morality  and  religion 
and  things  of  that  sort  whenever  they  come  up  in 
the  conversation;  but  there  is  no  teaching  you  any- 
thing except  by  bitter  experience,  which  I  sincerely 
hope  may  be  spared  you,  and  one  might  as  well  be 
arguing  with  a  brick  wall,  and  so  you  may  go  on") 

Well,  the  Queen  wept  and  coaxed,  but  Manuel 
was  firm.  So  Manuel  spent  that  night  in  the 
Queen's  room,  performing  the  needful  incantations, 
and  arranging  matters  with  the  stork,  and  then  Dom 
Manuel  returned  home.  And  that — well,  really 
that  was  all. 

Such  was  the  account  which  Dom  Manuel  ren- 
dered his  wife.  "And  upon  the  whole,  Niafer,  I 
consider  it  a  very  creditable  stroke  of  business,  for 
as  King  of  England  the  child  will  enjoy  advantages 
which  we  could  never  have  afforded  him." 


304  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Yes,"  said  Niafer,  "and  what  does  that  dear 
friend  of  yours  look  like  nowadays  ?" 

" — Besides,  should  the  boy  turn  out  badly  our 
grief  will  be  considerably  lessened  by  the  circum- 
stance that,  through  never  seeing  this  son  of  ours, 
our  affection  for  him  will  never  be  inconveniently 
great." 

"There  is  something  in  that,  for  already  I  can 
see  that  Emmerick  inherits  his  father's  obstinacy, 
and  it  naturally  worries  me,  but  what  does  the 
woman  look  like  nowadays  ?" 

" — Then,  even  more  important  than  these  con- 
siderations— " 

"Nothing  is  more  important,  Manuel,  in  this  very 
curious  sounding  affair,  than  the  way  that  woman 
looks  nowadays." 

"Ah,  my  dear,"  says  Manuel,  diplomatically,  "I 
did  not  like  to  speak  of  that,  I  confess,  for  you 
know  these  blondes  go  off  in  their  appearance  so 
quickly — " 

"Of  course  they  do,  but  still — " 

" — And  it  not  being  her  fault,  after  all,  I  did  not 
like  to  tell  you  about  Dame  Alianora's  looking  so 
many  years  older  than  you  do,  since  your  being  a 
brunette  gives  you  an  unfair  advantage  to  begin 
with." 

"Ah,  it  is  not  that,"  said  Niafer,  still  rather  grim- 
visaged,  but  obviously  mollified.  "It  is  the  life  she 


ALIANORA'S  FAREWELL  305 

is  leading,  with  her  witchcraft  and  her  familiar 
spirits  and  that  continual  entertaining  and  excite- 
ment, and  everybody  tells  me  she  has  already  taken 
to  dyeing  her  hair." 

"Oh,  it  had  plainly  had  something  done  to  it," 
says  Manuel,  lightly.  "But  it  is  a  queen's  duty  to 
preserve  such  remnants  of  good  looks  as  she  pos- 
sesses." 

"So  there,  you  see!"  said  Niafer,  quite  comfort- 
able again  in  her  mind  when  she  noted  the  careless 
way  in  which  Dom  Manuel  spoke  of  the  Queen. 

A  year  or  two  earlier  Dame  Niafer  would  perhaps 
have  been  moved  to  jealousy :  now  her  only  concern 
was  that  Manuel  might  possibly  be  led  to  make  a 
fool  of  himself  and  to  upset  their  manner  of  living. 
With  every  contented  wife  her  husband's  general 
foolishness  is  an  axiom,  and  prudent  philosophers  do 
not  distinguish  here  between  cause  and  effect. 

As  for  Alianora's  wanting  to  take  Manuel  as  a 
lover,  Dame  Niafer  found  the  idea  mildly  amusing, 
and  very  nicely  indicative  of  those  washed-out,  yel- 
low-haired women's  intelligence.  To  be  harboring 
romantic  notions  about  Manuel  seemed  to  Manuel's 
wife  so  fantastically  out  of  reason  that  she  half 
wished  the  poor  creature  could  without  scandal  be 
afforded  a  chance  to  find  out  for  herself  all  about 
Manuel's  thousand  and  one  finicky  ways  and  what 
he  was  in  general  to  live  with. 


306  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

That  being  impossible,  Niafer  put  the  crazy 
woman  out  of  mind,  and  began  to  tell  Manuel  about 
what  had  happened,  and  not  for  the  first  time  either, 
while  he  was  away,  and  about  just  how  much  more 
she  was  going  to  stand  from  Sister  Math,  and  about 
the  advantages  of  a  perfectly  plain  understanding 
for  everybody  concerned.  And  with  Niafer  that 
was  the  end  of  Count  Manuel's  discharging  of  his 
obligation  to  Alianora. 

Of  course  there  were  gossips  who  said  this,  that 
and  the  other.  Some  asserted  that  Manuel's  tale 
in  itself  contained  elements  of  improbability :  others 
declared  that  Queen  Alianora,  who  was  far  deeper 
versed  in  the  magic  of  the  Apsarasas  than  was  Dom 
Manuel,  could  just  as  well  have  summoned  the  stork 
without  his  assistance.  It  was  true  the  stork  was 
under  no  especial  obligations  to  Alianora:  even  so, 
said  these  gossips,  it  would  have  looked  far  better, 
and  a  queen  could  not  be  too  particular,  and  it 
simply  showed  you  about  these  foreign  Southern 
women ;  and  although  they  of  course  wished  to  mis- 
judge no  one,  there  was  no  sense  in  pretending  to 
ignore  what  everybody  practically  knew  to  be  a  fact, 
and  was  talking  about  everywhere,  and  some  day 
you  would  see  for  yourself. 

But  after  all,  Dom  Manuel  and  the  Queen  were 
the  only  persons  qualified  to  speak  of  these  matters 
with  authority,  and  this  was  Dom  Manuel's  account 


ALIANORA'S  FAREWELL  307 

of  them.  For  the  rest,  he  was  sustained  against 
tittle-tattle  by  the  knowledge  that  he  had  performed 
a  charitable  deed  in  England,  for  the  Queen's  popu- 
larity was  enhanced,  and  all  the  English,  but  par- 
ticularly their  King,  were  delighted,  by  the  fine  son 
which  the  stork  duly  brought  to  Alianora  the  fol- 
lowing June. 

Manuel  never  saw  this  boy,  who  afterward  ruled 
over  England  and  was  a  highly  thought-of  warrior, 
nor  did  Dom  Manuel  ever  see  Queen  Alianora  any 
more.  So  Alianora  goes  out  of  the  story,  to  bring 
long  years  of  misery  and  ruining  wars  upon  the 
English,  and  to  Dom  Manuel  no  more  beguilements. 
For  they  say  Dom  Manuel  could  never  resist  her, 
because  of  that  underlying  poverty  in  the  correct 
emotions  which,  as  some  say,  Dom  Manuel  shared 
with  her,  and  which  they  hid  from  all  the  world  ex- 
cept each  other. 


35- 

The  Troubling  Window 


IT  seemed,  in  a  word,  that  trouble  had  forgotten 
Count  Manuel.  None  the  less,  Dom  Manuel 
opened  a  window,  at  his  fine  home  at  Storis- 
ende,  on  a  fine,  sunlit,  warmish  morning  (for  this 
was  the  last  day  of  April)  to  confront  an  outlook 
more  perturbing  than  his  hard  vivid  eyes  had  yet 
lighted  on. 

So  he  regarded  it  for  a  while.  Considerately 
Dom  Manuel  made  experiments  with  the  three  win- 
dows in  this  Room  of  Ageus,  and  found  how,  in  so 
far  as  one's  senses  could  be  trusted,  the  matter  stood. 
Thereafter,  as  became  an  intelligent  person,  he  went 
back  to  his  writing-table,  and  set  about  signing  the 
requisitions  and  warrants  and  other  papers  which 
Ruric  the  clerk  had  left  there. 

Yet  all  the  while  Dom  Manuel's  gaze  kept  lifting 
to  the  windows.  There  were  three  of  them,  set  side 
by  side,  each  facing  south.  They  were  of  thick 
clear  glass,  of  a  sort  whose  manufacture  is  a  lost 
art,  for  these  windows  had  been  among  the  spoils 
brought  back  by  Duke  Asmund  from  nefarious  raid- 

308 


A  TROUBLING  WINDOW  309 

ings  of  Philistia,  in  which  country  these  windows 
had  once  been  a  part  of  the  temple  of  Ageus,  an 
immemorial  god  of  the  Philistines.  For  this  reason 
the  room  was  called  the  Room  of  Ageus. 

Through  these  windows  Count  Manuel  could  see 
familiar  fields,  the  long  avenue  of  poplars  and  the 
rising  hills  beyond.  All  was  as  it  had  been  yester- 
day, and  as  all  had  been  since,  nearly  three  years 
ago,  Count  Manuel  first  entered  Storisende.  All 
was  precisely  as  it  had  been,  except,  to  be  sure,  that 
until  yesterday  Dom  Manuel's  table  had  stood  by 
the  farthest  window.  He  could  not  remember  that 
until  to-day  this  window  had  ever  been  opened,  be- 
cause since  his  youth  had  gone  out  of  him  Count 
Manuel  was  becoming  more  and  more  susceptible  to 
draughts. 

"It  is  certainly  very  curious,"  Dom  Manuel  said, 
aloud,  when  he  had  finished  with  his  papers. 

He  was  again  approaching  the  very  curious  win- 
dow when  his  daughter  Melicent,  now  three  years 
old,  came  noisily,  and  in  an  appallingly  soiled  con- 
dition, to  molest  him.  She  had  bright  beauty  later, 
but  at  three  she  was  one  of  those  children  whom 
human  powers  cannot  keep  clean  for  longer  than 
three  minutes. 

Dom  Manuel  kept  for  her  especial  delectation  a 
small  flat  paddle  on  his  writing-table,  and  this  he 
now  caught  up. 


310  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Out  of  the  room  with  you,  little  pest!"  he 
blustered,  "for  I  am  busy." 

So  the  child,  as  was  her  custom,  ran  back  into  the 
hallway,  and  stood  there,  no  longer  in  the  room,  but 
with  one  small  foot  thrust  beyond  the  doorsill,  while 
she  laughed  up  at  her  big  father,  and  derisively 
stuck  out  a  tiny  curved  red  tongue  at  the  famed 
overlord  of  Poictesme.  Then  Dom  Manuel,  as  was 
his  custom,  got  down  upon  the  floor  to  slap  with  his 
paddle  at  the  intruding  foot,  and  Melicent  squealed 
with  delight,  and  pulled  back  her  foot  in  time  to 
dodge  the  paddle,  and  thrust  out  her  other  foot  be- 
yond the  sill,  and  tried  to  withdraw  that  too  before 
it  was  spanked. 

So  it  was  they  gave  over  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
to  rioting,  and  so  it  was  that  grave  young  Ruric 
found  them.  Count  Manuel  rather  sheepishly  arose 
from  the  floor,  and  dusted  himself,  and  sent  Meli- 
cent into  the  buttery  for  some  sugar  cakes.  He 
told  Ruric  what  were  the  most  favorable  terms  he 
could  offer  the  burgesses  of  Narenta,  and  he  gave 
Ruric  the  signed  requisitions. 

Presently,  when  Ruric  had  gone,  Dom  Manuel 
went  again  to  the  farthest  window,  opened  it,  and 
looked  out  once  more.  He  shook  his  head,  as  one 
who  gives  up  a  riddle.  He  armed  himself,  and  rode 
over  to  Perdigon,  whither  sainted  King. Ferdinand 


A  TROUBLING  WINDOW  311 

had  come  to  consult  with  Manuel  about  contriving 
the  assassination  of  the  Moorish  general,  Al-Mota- 
wakkil. 

In  addition,  Count  Manuel  had  on  hand  that 
afternoon  an  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God,  over 
some  rather  valuable  farming  lands,  but  it  was  re- 
marked by  the  spectators  that  he  botched  the  un- 
horsing and  severe  wounding  of  Earl  Ladinas,  and 
conducted  it  rather  as  though  Dom  Manuel's  heart 
were  not  in  the  day's  business.  Indeed,  he  had 
reason,  for  while  supernal  mysteries  were  well 
enough  if  one  were  still  a  hare-brained  lad,  or  even 
if  one  set  out  in  due  form  to  seek  them,  to  find 
such  mysteries  obtruding  themselves  unsought  into 
the  home-life  of  a  well-thought-of  nobleman  was 
discomposing,  and  to  have  the  windows  of  his  own 
house  playing  tricks  on  him  seemed  hardly  respect- 
able. 

All  that  month,  too,  some  memory  appeared  to 
trouble  Dom  Manuel,  in  the  back  of  his  mind,  while 
he  was  busied  in  the  pursuit  of  Othmar  and  Oth- 
mar's  brigands  in  the  Taunenfels:  and  as  soon  as 
Dom  Manuel  had  captured  and  hanged  the  last 
squad  of  knaves,  Dom  Manuel  rode  home  and 
looked  out  of  the  window,  to  find  matters  un- 
changed. 

Dom  Manuel  meditated.     He  sounded  the  gong 


312  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

for  Ruric.  Dom  Manuel  talked  with  the  clerk 
about  this  and  that.  Presently  Dom  Manuel  said: 
"But  one  stifles  here.  Open  that  window." 

The  clerk  obeyed.  Manuel  at  the  writing-table 
watched  him  intently.  But  in  opening  the  window 
the  clerk  had  of  necessity  stood  with  his  back 
toward  Count  Manuel,  and  when  Ruric  turned,  the 
dark  young  face  of  Ruric  was  impassive. 

Dom  Manuel,  playing  with  the  jeweled  chain  of 
office  about  his  neck,  considered  Ruric's  face.  Then 
Manuel  said :  "That  is  all.  You  may  go." 

But  Count  Manuel's  face  was  troubled,  and  for 
the  rest  of  this  day  he  kept  an  eye  on  Ruric  the 
young  clerk.  In  the  afternoon  it  was  noticeable 
that  this  Ruric  went  often,  on  one  pretext  and  an- 
other, into  the  Room  of  Ageus  when  nobody  else 
was  there.  The  next  morning,  in  broad  daylight, 
Manuel  detected  Ruric  carrying  into  the  Room  of 
Ageus,  of  all  things,  a  lantern.  The  Count  waited 
a  while,  then  went  into  the  room  through  its  one 
door.  The  room  was  empty.  Count  Manuel  sat 
down  and  drummed  with  his  fingers  upon  the  top 
of  his  writing-table. 

After  a  while  the  third  window  was  opened. 
Ruric  the  clerk  climbed  over  the  sill.  He  blew  out 
his  lantern. 

"You  are  braver  than  I,"  Count  Manuel  said,  "it 
may  be.  It  is  certain  you  are  younger.  Once, 


A  TROUBLING  WINDOW  313 

Ruric,  I  would  not  have  lured  any  dark  and  prim- 
voiced  young  fellow  into  attempting  this  adventure, 
but  would  have  essayed  it  myself  post-haste.  Well, 
but  I  have  other  duties  now,  and  appearances  to  keep 
up:  and  people  would  talk  if  they  saw  a  well- 
thought-of  nobleman  well  settled  in  life  climbing 
out  of  his  own  windows,  and  there  is  simply  no  tell- 
ing what  my  wife  would  think  of  it." 

The  clerk  had  turned,  startled,  dropping  his  lan- 
tern with  a  small  crash.  His  hands  went  jerkily 
to  his  smooth  chin,  clutching  it.  His  face  was 
white  as  a  leper's  face,  and  his  eyes  now  were  wild 
and  glittering,  and  his  head  was  drawn  low  be- 
tween his  black-clad  shoulders,  so  that  he  seemed 
a  hunchback  as  he  confronted  his  master.  Another 
queer  thing  Manuel  could  notice,  and  it  was  that  a 
great  lock  had  been  sheared  away  from  the  left  side 
of  Ruric's  black  hair. 

"What  have  you  learned/'  says  Manuel,  "out 
yonder?" 

"I  cannot  tell  you,"  replied  Ruric,  laughing  sillily, 
"but  in  place  of  it,  I  will  tell  you  a  tale.  Yes,  yes, 
Count  Manuel,  I  will  tell  you  a  merry  story  of  how 
a  great  while  ago  our  common  grandmother  Eve 
was  washing  her  children  one  day  near  Eden  when 
God  called  to  her.  She  hid  away  the  children  that 
she  had  not  finished  washing:  and  when  the  good 
God  asked  her  if  all  her  children  were  there,  with 


314  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

their  meek  little  heads  against  His  knees,  to  say 
their  prayers  to  Him,  she  said  Yes.  So  God  told 
her  that  what  she  had  tried  to  hide  from  God  should 
be  hidden  from  men:  and  He  took  away  the  un- 
washed children,  and  made  a  place  for  them  where 
everything  stays  young,  and  where  there  is  neither 
good  nor  evil,  because  these  children  are  unstained 
by  human  sin  and  unredeemed  by  Christ's  dear 
blood." 

The  Count  said,  frowning:  "What  drunken 
nonsense  are  you  talking  at  broad  noon?  It  is  not 
any  foolish  tatter  of  legend  that  I  am  requiring  of 
you,  my  boy,  but  civil  information  as  to  what  is  to 
be  encountered  out  yonder." 

"All  freedom  and  all  delight,"  young  Ruric  told 
him  wildly,  "and  all  horror  and  all  rebellion." 

Then  he  talked  for  a  while.  When  Ruric  had 
ended  this  talking,  Count  Manuel  laughed  scorn- 
fully, and  spoke  as  became  a  well-thought-of  noble- 
man. 

Ruric  whipped  out  a  knife,  and  attacked  his  mas- 
ter, crying,  "I  follow  after  my  own  thinking  and  my 
own  desires,  you  old,  smug,  squinting  hypocrite !" 

So  Count  Manuel  caught  Ruric  by  the  throat,  anu 
with  naked  hands  Dom  Manuel  strangled  the  young 
clerk. 

"Now  I  have  ridded  the  world  of  much  poison,  I 
think,"  Dom  Manuel  said,  aloud,  when  Ruric  lay 


A  TROUBLING  WINDOW  315 

dead  at  Manuel's  feet.  "In  any  event,  i  cannot 
have  that  sort  of  talking  about  my  house.  Yet  I 
wish  I  had  not  trapped  the  boy  into  attempting  this 
adventure,  which  by  rights  was  my  adventure.  I 
did  not  use  to  avoid  adventures." 

He  summoned  two  to  take  away  the  body,  and 
then  Manuel  went  to  his  bedroom,  and  was  clothed 
by  his  lackeys  in  a  tunic  of  purple  silk,  and  a  coronet 
was  placed  on  his  gray  head,  and  the  trumpets 
sounded  as  Count  Manuel  sat  down  to  supper. 
Pages  in  ermine  served  him,  bringing  Manuel's  food 
upon  gold  dishes,  and  pouring  red  wine  and  white 
from  golden  beakers  into  Manuel's  gold  cup. 
Skilled  music-men  played  upon  viols  and  harps  and 
flutes  while  the  high  Count  of  Poictesme  ate  richly 
seasoned  food  and  talked  sedately  with  his  wife. 

They  had  not  fared  thus  when  Manuel  had  just 
come  from  herding  swine,  and  Niafer  was  a  servant 
trudging  on  her  mistress'  errands,  and  when  these 
two  had  eaten  very  gratefully  the  Fortune's  bread 
and  cheese :  nor  had  they  any  need  to  be  heartened 
with  rare  wines  when  they  endured  so  many  strange 
adventures  because  of  their  love  for  each  other. 
For  these  two  had  once  loved  marvelously,  and 
minstrels  everywhere  made  songs  of  the  all-conquer- 
ing love  which  had  derided  death,  and  nobody 
denied  that  even  now  these  two  got  on  together 
amicably. 


316  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

But  tonight  Dame  Niafer  was  fretted,  because 
the  pastry-cook  was  young  Ruric's  cousin,  and  was, 
she  feared,  as  likely  as  not  to  fling  off  in  a  huff  on 
account  of  Dom  Manuel's  having  strangled  the 
clerk. 

"Well,  then  do  you  raise  the  fellow's  wages,"  said 
Count  Manuel. 

"That  is  easily  said,  and  is  exactly  like  a  man. 
Why,  Manuel,  you  surely  know  that  then  the  meat- 
cook,  and  the  butler,  too,  would  be  demanding  more, 
and  that  there  would  be  no  end  to  it." 

"But,  my  dear,  the  boy  was  talking  mad  blas- 
phemy, and  was  for  cutting  my  throat  with  a  great 
horn-handled  knife." 

"Of*  course  that  was  very  wrong  of  him,"  said 
Dame  Niafer,  comfortably,  "and  not  for  an  instant, 
Manuel,  am  I  defending  his  conduct,  as  I  trust  you 
quite  understand.  But  even  so,  if  you  had  stopped 
for  a  moment  to  think  how  hard  it  is  to  replace  a 
servant  nowadays,  and  how  unreliable  is  the  best  of 
them,  I  believe  you  would  have  seen  how  completely 
we  are  at  their  mercy." 

Then  she  told  him  all  about  her  second  waiting- 
woman,  while  Manuel  said  "Yes,"  and  "I  never 
heard  the  like,"  and  "You  were  perfectly  right,  my 
dear,"  and  so  on,  and  all  the  while  appeared  to  be 
thinking  about  something  else  in  the  back  of  his 
mind. 


30- 

Excursions  from  Content 


THEREAFTER  Count  Manuel  could  not  long 
remain   away    from   the    window   through 
which  Ruric  had  climbed  with  a  lantern,  and 
through  which  Ruric  had  returned  insanely  blas- 
pheming against  law  and  order. 

The  outlook  from  this  window  was  certainly 
curious.  Through  the  two  other  windows  of 
Ageus,  set  side  by  side  with  this  one,  and  in  appear- 
ance similar  to  it  in  all  respects,  the  view  remained 
always  unchanged,  and  just  such  as  it  was  from  the 
third  window  so  long  as  you  looked  through  the 
thick  clear  glass.  But  when  the  third  window  of 
Ageus  was  opened,  all  the  sunlit  summer  world  that 
you  had  seen  through  the  thick  clear  glass  was  gone 
quite  away,  and  you  looked  out  into  a  limitless  gray 
twilight  wherein  not  anything  was  certainly  dis- 
cernible, and  the  air  smelt  of  spring.  It  was  a 
curious  experience  for  Count  Manuel,  thus  to  regard 
through  the  clear  glass  his  prospering  domains  and 
all  the  rewards  of  his  famous  endeavors,  and  then 
find  them  vanished  as  soon  as  the  third  window  was 

317 


318  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

opened.  It  was  curious,  and  very  interesting;  but 
such  occurrences  make  people  dubious  about  things 
in  which,  as  everybody  knows,  it  is  wisdom's  part 
to  believe  implicitly. 

Now  the  second  day  after  Ruric  had  died,  the 
season  now  being  June,  Count  Manuel  stood  at  the 
three  windows,  and  saw  in  the  avenue  of  poplars 
his  wife,  Dame  Niafer,  walking  hand  in  hand  with 
little  Melicent.  Niafer,  despite  her  lameness,  was 
a  fine  figure  of  a  woman,  so  long  as  he  viewed 
Niafer  through  the  closed  window  of  Ageus.  Dom 
Manuel  looked  contentedly  enough  upon  the  wife 
who  was  the  reward  of  his  toil  and  suffering  in  Dun 
Vlechlan,  and  the  child  who  was  the  reward  of  his 
amiability  and  shrewdness  in  dealing  with  the  stork, 
so  long  as  he  regarded  them  through  the  closed  third 
window. 

His  hand  trembled  somewhat  as  he  now  opened 
this  window,  to  face  gray  sweetly-scented  nothing- 
ness. But  in  the  window  glass,  you  saw,  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  flourishing  gardens  remained  un- 
changed :  and  in  the  half  of  the  window  to  the  right 
hand  were  quivering  poplars,  and  Niafer  and  little 
Melicent  were  smiling  at  him,  and  the  child  was 
kissing  her  hand  to  him.  All  about  this  swinging 
half  of  the  window  was  nothingness;  he,  leaning 
out,  and  partly  closing  this  half  of  the  window, 
could  see  that  behind  the  amiable  picture  was  noth- 


MANUEL'S  EXCURSIONS  319 

ingness :  it  was  only  in  the  old  glass  of  Ageus  that 
his  wife  and  child  appeared  to  live  and  move. 

Dom  Manuel  laughed,  shortly.  "Hah,  then," 
says  he,  "that  tedious  dear  nagging  woman  and  that 
priceless  snub-nosed  brat  may  not  be  real.  They 
may  be  merely  happy  and  prosaic  imaginings,  hiding 
the  night  which  alone  is  real.  To  consider  this 
possibility  is  troubling.  It  makes  for  even  greater 
loneliness.  None  the  less,  I  know  that  I  am  real, 
and  certainly  the  grayness  before  me  is  real.  Well, 
no  matter  what  befell  Ruric  yonder,  it  must  be  that 
in  this  grayness  there  is  some  other  being  who  is  real 
and  dissatisfied.  I  must  go  to  seek  this  being,  for 
here  I  become  as  a  drugged  person  among  sedate 
and  comfortable  dreams  which  are  made  doubly 
weariful  by  my  old  master's  whispering  of  that 
knowledge  which  was  my  father's  father's." 

Then  in  the  gray  dusk  was  revealed  a  face  that 
was  not  human,  and  the  round  toothless  mouth  of 
it  spoke  feebly,  saying,  "I  am  Lubrican,  and  I  come 
to  guide  you  if  you  dare  follow." 

"I  have  always  thought  that  'dare'  was  a  quaint 
word,"  says  Manuel,  with  the  lordly  swagger  which 
he  kept  for  company. 

So  he  climbed  out  of  the  third  window  of  Ageus. 
When  later  he  climbed  back,  a  lock  had  been  sheared 
from  the  side  of  his  gray  head. 

Now  the  tale  tells  that  thereafter  Dom  Manuel 


320  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

was  changed,  and  his  attendants  gossiped  about  it. 
Dame  Niafer  also  was  moved  to  mild  wonderment 
over  the  change  in  him,  but  did  not  think  it  very 
important,  because  there  is  never  any  accounting  for 
what  a  husband  will  do.  Besides,  there  were  other 
matters  to  consider,  for  at  this  time  Easterlings 
came  up  from  Piaja  (which  they  had  sacked)  into 
the  territories  of  King  Theodoret,  and  besieged 
Megaris,  and  the  harried  King  had  sent  messengers 
to  Dom  Manuel. 

"But  this  is  none  of  my  affair,"  said  Manuel, 
"and  I  begin  to  tire  of  warfare,  and  of  catching  cold 
by  sleeping  on  hard-won  battle-fields." 

"You  would  not  take  cold,  as  I  have  told  you 
any  number  of  times,"  declared  Niafer,  "if  you 
would  eat  more  green  vegetables  instead  of  stuffing 
yourself  with  meat,  and  did  not  insist  on  overheat- 
ing yourself  at  the  fighting.  Still,  you  had  better 
go." 

"My  dear,  I  shall  do  nothing  of  the  sort." 

"Yes,  you  had  better  go,  for  these  Easterlings  are 
notorious  pagans — " 

"Now  other  persons  have  been  pagans  once  upon 
a  time,  dear  snip — " 

"A  great  many  things  are  much  worse,  Manuel," 
says  Niafer,  with  that  dark  implication  before  which 
Dom  Manuel  always  fidgeted,  because  there  was  no 
telling  what  it  might  mean.  "Yes,  these  Easter- 


MANUEL'S  EXCURSIONS  321 

lings  are  quite  notorious  pagans,  and  King  Theo- 
doret  has  at  least  the  grace  to  call  himself  a  Chris- 
tian, and,  besides,  it  will  give  me  a  chance  to  get 
your  rooms  turned  out  and  thoroughly  cleaned." 

So  Manuel,  as  was  his  custom,  did  what  Niafer 
thought  best.  Manuel  summoned  his  vassals,  and 
brought  together  his  household,  and  without  making 
any  stir  with  horns  and  clarions  came  so  swiftly 
and  secretly  under  cover  of  night  upon  the  heathen 
Easterlings  that  never  was  seen  such  slaughter  and 
sorrow  and  destruction  as  Dom  Manuel  wrought 
upon  those  tall  pagans  before  he  sat  down  to  break- 
fast. 

He  attacked  from  Sannazaro.  The  survivors 
therefore  fled,  having  no  choice,  through  the  fields 
east  of  Megaris.  Manuel  followed,  and  slew  them 
in  the  open. 

The  realm  was  thus  rescued  from  dire  peril,  and 
Manuel  was  detained  for  a  while  in  Megaris,  by  the 
ensuing  banquets  and  religious  services  and  the  exe- 
cutions of  the  prisoners  and  the  nonsense  of  the 
King's  sister.  For  this  romantic  and  very  pretty 
girl  had  set  King  Theodoret  to  pestering  Manuel 
with  magniloquent  offers  of  what  Theodoret  would 
do  and  give  if  only  the  rescuer  of  Megaris  would 
put  aside  his  ugly  crippled  wife  and  marry  the 
King's  lovely  sister. 

Manuel    laughed    at    him,    and    returned    into 


322  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

Poictesme,  with  a  cold  in  his  head  to  be  sure,  but 
with  fresh  glory  and  much  plunder  and  two  new 
fiefs  to  his  credit:  and  in  Poictesme  Dom  Manuel 
found  that  his  rooms  had  been  thoroughly  cleaned 
and  set  in  such  perfect  order  that  he  could  lay  hands 
upon  none  of  his  belongings,  and  that  the  pastry- 
cook had  left. 

"It  simply  shows  you !"  says  Dame  Niaf er,  "and 
all  I  have  to  say  is  that  now  I  hope  you  are  satis- 
fied." 

Manuel  laughed  without  merriment.  "Every- 
thing is  in  a  conspiracy  to  satisfy  me  in  these  sleek 
times,  and  it  is  that  which  chiefly  plagues  me." 

He  chucked  Niafer  under  the  chin,  and  told  her 
she  should  be  thinking  of  what  a  famous  husband 
she  had  nowadays,  instead  of  bothering  about 
pastry-cooks.  Then  he  fell  to  asking  little  Melicent 
about  how  much  she  had  missed  Father  while 
Father  was  away,  and  he  dutifully  kissed  the  other 
two  children,  and  he  duly  admired  the  additions  to 
Emmerick's  vocabulary  during  Father's  absence. 
And  afterward  he  went  alone  into  the  Room  of 
Ageus. 

Thereafter  he  was  used  to  spend  more  and  more 
hours  in  the  Room  of  Ageus,  and  the  change  in 
Count  Manuel  was  more  and  more  talked  about. 
And  the  summer  passed :  and  whether  or  no  Count 


MANUEL'S  EXCURSIONS  323 

Manuel  had,  as  some  declared,  contracted  unholy 
alliances,  there  was  no  denying  that  all  prospered 
with  Count  Manuel.  But  very  certainly  he  was 
changed. 


37- 

Opinions  of  Hlnzelmann 


NOW  the  tale  tells  that  on  Michaelmas  morn- 
ing little  Melicent,  being  in  a  quiet  mood 
that  time,  sat  with  her  doll  in  the  tall  chair 
by  the  third  window  of  Ageus  while  her  father 
wrote  at  his  big  table.  He  was  pausing  between 
phrases  to  think  and  to  bite  at  his  thumb-nail,  and 
he  was  so  intent  upon  this  letter  to  Pope  Innocent 
that  he  did  not  notice  the  slow  opening  of  the  third 
window :  and  Melicent  had  been  in  conference  with 
the  queer  small  boy  for  some  while  before  Dom 
Manuel  looked  up  abstractedly  toward  them.  Then 
Manuel  seemed  perturbed,  and  he  called  Melicent  to 
him,  and  she  obediently  scrambled  into  her  father's 
lap. 

There  was  silence  in  the  Room  of  Ageus.  The 
queer  small  boy  sat  leaning  back  in  the  chair  which 
little  Melicent  had  just  left.  He  sat  with  his  legs 
crossed,  and  with  his  gloved  hands  clasping  his  right 
knee,  as  he  looked  appraisingly  at  Melicent.  He 
displayed  a  beautiful  sad  face,  with  curled  yellow 
hair  hanging  about  his  shoulders,  and  he  was 
dressed  in  a  vermilion  silk  coat :  at  his  left  side, 

324 


IS  ABOUT  HINZELMANN  325 

worn  like  a  sword,  was  a  vast  pair  of  shears.  He 
wore  also  a  pointed  hat  of  four  interblended  colors, 
and  his  leather  gloves  were  figured  with  pearls. 

"She  will  be  a  woman  by  and  by,"  the  strange 
boy  said,  with  a  soft  and  delicate  voice,  "and  then 
she  too  will  be  coming  to  us,  and  we  will  provide 
fine  sorrows  for  her." 

"No,  Hinzelmann,"  Count  Manuel  replied,  as  he 
stroked  the  round  straw-colored  head  of  little  Meli- 
cent.  "This  is  the  child  of  Niafer.  She  comes  of 
a  race  that  has  no  time  to  be  peering  out  of  dubious 
windows." 

"It  is  your  child  too,  Count  Manuel.  Therefore 
she  too,  between  now  and  her  burial,  will  be  wanting 
to  be  made  free  of  my  sister  Suskind's  kingdom,  as 
you  have  been  made  free  of  it,  at  a  price.  Oh,  very 
certainly  you  have  paid  little  as  yet  save  the  one 
lock  of  your  gray  hair,  but  in  time  you  will  pay  the 
other  price  which  Suskind  demands.  I  know,  for 
it  is  I  who  collect  my  sister  Suskind's  revenues,  and 
when  the  proper  hour  arrives,  believe  me,  Count 
Manuel,  I  shall  not  be  asking  your  leave,  nor  is  there 
any  price  which  you,  I  think,  will  not  be  paying 
willingly." 

"That  is  probable.  For  Suskind  is  wise  and 
strange,  and  the  grave  beauty  of  her  youth  is  the 
fulfilment  of  an  old  hope.  Life  had  become  a 
tedious  matter  of  much  money  and  much  bloodshed, 


326  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

but  she  has  restored  to  me  the  gold  and  crimson  of 
dawn." 

"So,  do  you  very  greatly  love  my  sister  Sus- 
kind?"  says  Hinzelmann,  smiling  rather  sadly. 

"She  is  my  heart's  delight,  and  the  desire  of  my 
desire,  and  it  is  she  for  whom  unwittingly  I  have 
been  longing  always  since  I  went  away  to  climb  high 
Vraidex  in  pursuit  of  wealth  and  fame.  I  had  seen 
my  wishes  fulfilled,  and  my  dreams  accomplished, 
and  all  the  godlike  discontents  which  ennobled  my 
youth  had  died  painlessly  in  cushioned  places.  And 
living  had  come  to  be  a  habit  of  doing  what  little 
persons  expected,  and  youth  was  gone  out  of  me, 
and  I,  that  used  to  follow  with  a  high  head  after 
my  own  thinking  and  my  own  desires,  could  not 
any  longer  very  greatly  care  for  anything.  Now  I 
am  changed,  for  Suskind  has  made  me  free  once 
more  of  the  Country  of  the  Young  and  of  the  age- 
less self -tormenting  youth  of  the  grey  depths  which 
maddened  Ruric,  but  did  not  madden  me." 

"Look  you,  Count  Manuel,  but  that  penniless 
young  nobody,  Ruric  the  clerk,  was  not  trapped  as 
you  are  trapped.  For  from  the  faith  of  others 
there  is  no  escape  upon  this  side  of  the  window. 
World-famous  Manuel  the  Redeemer  has  in  this 
place  his  luck  and  prosperity  to  maintain  until  the 
orderings  of  unimaginative  gods  have  quite  de- 
stroyed the  Manuel  that  once  followed  after  his  own 


IS  ABOUT  HINZELMANN  327 

thinking.  For  even  the  high  gods  here  note  with 
approval  that  you  have  become  the  sort  of  person  in 
whom  the  gods  put  confidence,  and  so  they  favor 
you  unscrupulously.  Here  all  is  pre-arranged  for 
you  by  the  thinking  of  others.  Here  there  is  no 
escape  for  you  from  acquiring  a  little  more  wealth 
to-day,  a  little  more  meadow-land  to-morrow,  with 
daily  a  little  more  applause  and  honor  and  envy 
from  your  fellows,  along  with  always  slowly  in- 
creasing wrinkles  and  dulling  wits  and  an  augment- 
ing paunch,  and  with  the  smug  approval  of  every- 
body upon  earth  and  in  heaven.  That  is  the  reward 
of  those  persons  whom  you  humorously  call  success- 
ful persons." 

Dom  Manuel  answered  very  slowly,  and  to  little 
Melicent  it  seemed  that  Father's  voice  was  sad. 

Said  Manuel :  "Certainly  I  think  there  is  no  es- 
cape for  me  upon  this  side  of  the  window  of  Ageus. 
A  bond  was  put  upon  me  to  make  a  figure  in  this 
world,  and  I  discharged  that  obligation.  Then 
came  another  and  yet  another  obligation  to  be  dis- 
charged. And  now  has  come  upon  me  a  geas  which 
is  not  to  be  lifted  either  by  toils  or  by  miracles.  It 
is  the  geas  which  is  laid  on  every  person,  and  the 
life  of  every  man  is  as  my  life,  with  no  moment 
free  from  some  bond  or  another.  Heh,  youth 
vaunts  windily,  but  in  the  end  nobody  can  follow 
after  his  own  thinking  and  his  own  desire.  At 


328  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

every  turn  he  is  confronted  by  that  which  is  ex- 
pected, and  obligation  follows  obligation,  and  in  the 
long  run  no  champion  can  be  stronger  than  every- 
body. So  we  succumb  to  this  world's  terrible  un- 
reason, willy-nilly,  and  Helmas  has  been  made  wise, 
and  Ferdinand  has  been  made  saintly,  and  I  have 
been  made  successful,  by  that  which  was  expected 
of  us,  and  by  that  which  none  of  us  had  ever  any 
real  chance  to  resist  in  a  world  wherein  all  men  are 
nourished  by  their  beliefs." 

"And  does  not  success  content  you  ?" 

"Ah,  but,"  asked  Manuel  slowly,  just  as  he  had 
once  asked  Horvendile  in  Manuel's  lost  youth, 
"what  is  success?  They  tell  me  I  have  succeeded 
marvelously  in  all  things,  rising  from  low  begin- 
nings, yet,  hearing  this,  I  sometimes  wonder,  for  I 
know  that  a  smaller-hearted  creature  and  a  creature 
poorer  in  spirit  is  posturing  in  Count  Manuel's  high 
cushioned  places  than  used  to  go  afield  with  the 
miller's  pigs." 

"Why,  yes,  Count  Manuel,  you  have  made  en- 
durable terms  with  this  world  by  succumbing  to  its 
foolishness :  but  do  you  take  comfort,  for  that  is  the 
one  way  open  to  anybody  who  has  not  rightly  seen 
and  judged  the  ends  of  this  world.  At  worst,  you 
have  had  all  your  desires,  and  you  have  made  a  very 
notable  figure  in  Count  Manuel's  envied  station." 

"But  I  starve  there,  Hinzelmann,  I  dry  away  into 


IS  ABOUT  HINZELMANN  329 

stone,  and  this  envied  living  is  reshaping  me  into  a 
complacent  idol  for  fools  to  honor,  and  the  approval 
of  fools  is  converting  the  heart  and  wits  of  me  into 
the  stony  heart  and  wits  of  an  idol.  And  I  look 
back  upon  my  breathless  old  endeavors,  and  I  won- 
der drearily,  'Was  it  for  this?'  " 

"Yes,"  Hinzelmann  said :  and  he  shrugged,  with- 
out ever  putting  off  that  sad  smile  of  his.  "Yes, 
yes,  all  this  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  Beda 
has  kept  his  word.  But  no  man  gets  rid  of  Misery, 
Count  Manuel,  except  at  a  price." 

They  stayed  silent  for  a  while.  Count  Manuel 
stroked  the  round  straw-colored  head  of  little  Meli- 
cent.  Hinzelmann  played  with  the  small  cross 
which  hung  at  Hinzelmann' s  neck.  This  cross  ap- 
peared to  be  woven  of  plaited  strings,  but  when 
Hinzelmann  shook  the  cross  it  jingled  like  a  bell. 

"Yet,  none  the  less/'  says  Hinzelmann,  "here  you 
remain.  No,  certainly,  I  cannot  understand  you, 
Count  Manuel.  As  a  drunkard  goes  back  to  the 
destroying  cask,  so  do  you  continue  to  return  to 
your  fine  home  at  Storisende  and  to  the  incessant 
whispering  of  your  father's  father,  for  all  that  you 
have  but  to  remain  in  Suskind's  low  red-pillared 
palace  to  be  forever  rid  of  that  whisper  and  of  this 
dreary  satiating  of  human  desires." 

"I  shall  of  course  make  my  permanent  quarters 
there  by  and  by,"  Count  Manuel  said,  "but  not  just 


330  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

yet.  It  would  not  be  quite  fair  to  my  wife  for  me 
to  be  leaving  Storisende  just  now,  when  we  are 
getting  in  the  crops,  and  when  everything  is  more 
or  less  upset  already — " 

"I  perceive  you  are  still  inventing  excuses,  Count 
Manuel,  to  put  off  yielding  entire  allegiance  to  my 
sister." 

"No,  it  is  not  that,  not  that  at  all !  It  is  only  the 
upset  condition  of  things  just  now,  and,  besides, 
Hinzelmann,  the  stork  is  to  bring  us  the  last  girl 
child  the  latter  part  of  next  week.  We  are  to  call 
her  Ettarre,  and  I  would  like  to  have  a  sight  of  her, 
of  course — " 

Hinzelmann  still  smiled  rather  sadly.  "Last 
month  you  could  not  come  to  us  because  your  wife 
was  just  then  outworn  with  standing  in  the  hot 
kitchen  and  stewing  jams  and  marmalades.  Dom 
Manuel,  will  you  come  when  the  baby  is  delivered 
and  all  the  crops  are  in?" 

"Wellj  but,  Hinzelmann,  within  a  week  or  two 
we  shall  be  brewing  this  year's  ale,  and  I  have  al- 
ways more  or  less  seen  to  that — " 

Still  Hinzelmann  smiled  sadly.  He  pointed  with 
his  small  gloved  hand  toward  Melicent.  "And 
what  about  your  other  enslavement,  to  this  child 
here?" 

"Why,  certainly,  Hinzelmann,  the  brat  does  need 
a  father  to  look  out  for  her,  so  long  as  she  is  the 


IS  ABOUT  HINZELMANN  331 

merest  baby.  And  naturally  I  have  been  thinking 
about  that  of  late,  rather  seriously — " 

Hinzelmann  spoke  with  deliberation.  "She  is 
very  nearly  the  most  stupid  and  the  most  unattrac- 
tive child  I  have  ever  seen.  And  I,  you  must  re- 
member, am  blood  brother  to  Cain  and  Seth." 

But  Dom  Manuel  was  not  provoked.  "As  if  I 
did  not  know  the  child  is  in  no  way  remarkable! 
No,  my  good  Hinzelmann,  you  that  serve  Suskind 
have  shown  me  strange  dear  things,  but  nothing 
more  strange  and  dear  than  a  thing  which  I  dis- 
covered for  myself.  For  I  am  that  Manuel  whom 
men  call  the  Redeemer  of  Poictesme,  and  my  deeds 
will  be  the  themes  of  harpers  whose  grandparents 
are  not  yet  born ;  I  have  known  love  and  war  and  all 
manner  of  adventure:  but  all  the  sighings  and 
hushed  laughter  of  yesterday,  and  all  the  trumpet- 
blowing  and  shouting,  and  all  that  I  have  witnessed 
of  the  unreticent  fond  human  ways  of  great  persons 
who  for  the  while  have  put  aside  their  state,  and  all 
the  good  that  in  my  day  I  may  have  done,  and  all 
the  evil  that  I  have  certainly  destroyed,  all  this 
seems  trivial  as  set  against  the  producing  of  this 
tousled  brat.  No,  to  be  sure,  she  is  backward  as 
compared  with  Emmerick,  or  even  Dorothy,  and  she 
is  not, 'as  you  say,  an  at  all  remarkable  child,  though 
very  often,  I  can  assure  you,  she  does  things  that 
would  astonish  you.  Now,  for  instance — " 


332  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Spare  me !"  said  Hinzelmann. 

"Well,  but  it  really  was  very  clever  of  her,'*  Dom 
Manuel  stipulated,  with  disappointment.  "How- 
ever, I  was  going  to  say  that  I,  who  have  harried 
pagandom,  and  capped  jests  with  kings,  and  am  now 
setting  terms  for  the  Holy  Father,  have  come  to  re- 
gard the  doings  of  this  ill-bred,  selfish,  ugly,  little 
imp  as  more  important  than  my  doings.  And  I 
cannot  resolve  to  leave  her,  just  yet.  So,  Hinzel- 
mann, my  friend,  I  think  I  will  not  thoroughly  com- 
mit myself,  just  yet.  But  after  Christmas  we  will 
see  about  it." 

"And  I  will  tell  you  the  two  reasons  of  this  shilly- 
shallying, Count  Manuel.  One  reason  is  that  you 
are  human,  and  the  other  reason  is  that  in  your  head 
there  are  gray  hairs." 

"What,  can  it  be,"  said  the  big  warrior,  forlornly, 
"that  I  who  have  not  yet  had  twenty-six  years  of 
living  am  past  my  prime,  and  that  already  life  is 
going  out  of  me  ?" 

"You  must  remember  the  price  you  paid  to  win 
back  Dame  Niafer  from  paradise.  As  truth,  and 
not  the  almanac,  must  estimate  these  things  you  are 
now  nearer  fifty-six." 

"Well,"  Manuel  said,  stoutly,  "I  do  not  regret  it, 
and  for  Niafer's  sake  I  am  willing  to  become  a  hun- 
dred and  six.  But  certainly  it  is  hard  to  think  of 


IS  ABOUT  HINZELMANN  333 

myself  as  an  old  fellow  on  the  brink  of  the  scrap- 
pile." 

"Oho,  you  are  not  yet  so  old,  Count  Manuel,  but 
that  Suskind's  power  is  greater  than  the  power  of 
the  child :  and  besides,  there  is  a  way  to  break  the 
power  of  the  child.  Death  has  merely  scratched 
small  wrinkles,  very  lightly,  with  one  talon,  to  mark 
you  as  his  by  and  by.  That  is  all  as  yet :  and  so  the 
power  of  my  high  sister  Suskind  endures  over  you, 
who  were  once  used  to  follow  after  your  own  think- 
ing and  your  own  desire,  for  there  remains  in  you  a 
leaven  even  to-day.  Yes,  yes,  though  you  deny  her 
to-day,  you  will  be  entreating  her  to-morrow,  and 
then  it  may  be  she  will  punish  you.  Either  way,  I 
must  be  going  now,  since  you  are  obstinate,  for  it  is 
at  this  time  I  run  about  the  September  world  col- 
lecting my  sister's  revenues,  and  her  debtors  are 
very  numerous." 

And  with  that  the  boy,  still  smiling  gravely, 
slipped  out  of  the  third  window  into  the  gray  sweet- 
smelling  dusk,  and  little  Melicent  said,  "But,  Father, 
why  did  that  queer  sad  boy  want  me  to  be  climbing 
out  of  the  window  with  him?" 

"So  that  he  might  be  kind  to  you,  my  dear,  as  he 
estimates  kindness." 

"But  why  did  the  sad  boy  want  a  piece  of  my 
hair?"  asked  Melicent;  "and  why  did  he  cut  it  off 


334  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

with  his  big  shiny  shears,  while  you  were  writing, 
and  he  was  playing  with  me?" 

"It  was  to  pay  a  price,"  says  Manuel.  He  knew 
now  that  the  Alf  charm  was  laid  on  his  loved  child, 
and  that  this  was  the  price  of  his  junketings.  He 
knew  also  that  Suskind  would  never  remit  this  price. 

Then  Melicent  demanded,  "And  what  makes  your 
face  so  white?" 

"It  must  be  pale  with  hunger,  child :  so  I  think 
that  you  and  I  had  better  be  getting  to  our  dinner.*' 


Farewell  to  Suskind 


BUT  after  dinner  Dom  Manuel  came  alone  into 
the  Room  of  Ageus,  and  equipped  himself  as 
the  need  was,  and  he  climbed  out  of  the 
charmed  window  for  the  last  time.  His  last  visit 
to  the  depths  was  horrible,  they  say,  and  they  relate 
that  of  all  the  deeds  of  Dom  Manuel's  crowded  life- 
time the  thing  that  he  did  on  this  day  was  the  most 
grim.  But  he  won  through  all,  by  virtue  of  his 
equipment  and  his  fixed  heart.  So  when  Dom 
Manuel  returned  he  clasped  in  his  left  hand  a  lock 
of  fine  straw-colored  hair,  and  on  both  his  hands 
was  blood  let  from  no  human  veins. 

He  looked  back  for  the  last  time  into  the  gray 
depths.  A  crowned  girl  rose  beside  him  noiselessly, 
all  white  and  red,  and  she  clasped  her  bloodied 
lovely  arms  about  him,  and  she  drew  him  to  her 
hacked  young  breasts,  and  she  kissed  him  for  the 
last  time.  Then  her  arms  were  loosed  from  about 
Dom  Manuel,  and  she  fell  away  from  him,  and  was 
swallowed  by  the  gray  sweet-scented  depths. 

"And  so  farewell  to  you,  Queen  Suskind/'  says 
Count  Manuel.  "You  who  were  not  human,  but 

335 


336  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

knew  only  the  truth  of  things,  could  never  under- 
stand our  foolish  human  notions.  Otherwise  you 
would  never  have  demanded  the  one  price  I  may  not 
pay." 

"Weep,  weep  for  Suskind!"  then  said  Lubrican, 
wailing  feebly  in  the  gray  and  April-scented  dusk; 
"for  it  was  she  alone  who  knew  the  secret  of  pre- 
serving that  dissatisfaction  which  is  divine  where  all 
else  falls  away  with  age  into  the  acquiescence  of 
beasts." 

"Why,  yes,  but  unhappiness  is  not  the  true  desire 
of  man,"  says  Manuel.  "I  know,  for  I  have  had 
both  happiness  and  unhappiness,  and  neither  con- 
tented me." 

"Weep,  weep  for  Suskind!"  then  cried  the  soft 
and  delicate  voice  of  Hinzelmann :  "for  it  was  she 
that  would  have  loved  you,  Manuel,  with  that  love 
of  which  youth  dreams,  and  which  exists  nowhere 
upon  your  side  of  the  window,  where  all  kissed 
women  turn  to  stupid  figures  of  warm  earth,  and  all 
love  falls  away  with  age  into  the  acquiescence  of 
beasts." 

"Oh,  it  is  very  true,"  said  Manuel,  "that  all  my 
life  henceforward  will  be  a  wearying  business  be- 
cause of  long  desires  for  Suskind's  love  and  Sus- 
kind's  lips  and  the  grave  beauty  of  her  youth,  and 
for  all  the  high-hearted  dissatisfactions  of  youth. 
But  the  Alf  charm  is  lifted  from  the  head  of  my 


FAREWELL  TO  SUSKIND  337 

child,  and  Melicent  will  live  as  Niafer  lives,  and  it 
will  be  better  for  all  of  us,  and  I  am  content." 

And  from  below  came  many  voices  wailing  con- 
fusedly. "We  weep  for  Suskind.  Suskind  is  slain 
with  the  one  weapon  that  might  slay  her:  and  all 
we  weep  for  Suskind,  who  was  the  fairest  and  the 
wisest  and  the  most  unreasonable  of  queens.  Let 
all  the  hidden  children  weep  for  Suskind,  whose 
heart  and  life  was  April,  and  who  plotted  courage- 
ously against  the  orderings  of  unimaginative  gods, 
and  who  has  been  butchered  to  preserve  the  hair  of 
a  quite  ordinary  child." 

"And  that  young  Manuel  who  was  in  his  day  a 
wilful  champion,  and  who  fretted  under  ordered 
wrongs,  and  who  went  everywhither  with  a  high 
head  a-boasting  that  he  followed  after  his  own 
thinking  and  his  own  desire — why,  that  young  fel- 
low also  is  silenced  and  dead,"  says  Dom  Manuel, 
with  a  wry  smile.  "For  the  well-thought-of  Count 
of  Poictesme  must  be  as  the  will  and  the  faith  and  as 
the  need  of  others  may  dictate :  and  there  is  no  help 
for  it,  and  no  escape,  and  our  old  appearances  must 
be  preserved  upon  this  side  of  the  window  in  order 
that  we  may  all  stay  sane." 

"We  weep,  and  with  long  weeping  raise  the  dirge 
for  Suskind— !" 

"But  I,  who  do  not  weep,— I  raise  the  dirge  for 
Manuel.  For  I  must  henceforward  be  reasonable 


338  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

in  all  things,  and  I  shall  never  be  quite  discontented 
any  more :  and  I  must  feed  and  sleep  as  the  beasts 
do,  and  it  may  be  that  I  shall  even  fall  to  thinking 
complacently  about  my  death  and  glorious  resurrec- 
tion. Yes,  yes,  all  this  is  certain,  and  I  may  not 
ever  go  a-traveling  everywhither  to  see  the  ends  of 
this  world  and  judge  them :  and  the  desire  to  do  so 
no  longer  moves  in  me,  for  there  is  a  cloud  about 
my  goings,  and  there  is  a  whispering  that  follows 
me,  and  I  too  fall  away  into  the  acquiescence  of 
beasts.  Meanwhile  no  hair  of  the  child's  head  has 
been  injured,  and  I  am  content." 

"Let  all  the  hidden  children,  and  all  else  that  lives 
except  the  tall  gray  son  of  Oriander,  whose  blood 
is  harsh  sea-water,  weep  for  Suskind!  Suskind  is 
dead,  that  was  unstained  by  human  sin  and  unre- 
deemed by  Christ's  dear  blood,  and  youth  has 
perished  from  the  world.  Oh,  let  us  weep,  for  all 
the  world  grows  chill  and  gray  as  Oriander's  son/' 

"And  Oriander  too  is  dead,  as  I  well  know  that 
slew  him  in  my  hour.  Now  my  hour  passes,  and 
I  pass  with  it,  to  make  way  for  the  needs  of  my 
children,  as  he  perforce  made  way  for  me.  And  in 
time  these  children,  and  their  children  after  them, 
pass  thus,  and  always  age  must  be  in  one  mode  or 
another  slain  by  youth.  Now  why  this  should  be 
so,  I  cannot  guess,  nor  do  I  see  that  much  good 
comes  of  it,  nor  do  I  find  that  in  myself  which 


FAREWELL  TO  SUSKIND  339 

warrants  any  confidences  from  the  most  high  con- 
trolling gods.  But  I  am  certain  that  no  hair  of  the 
child's  head  has  been  injured,  and  I  am  certain  that 
I  am  content." 

Thus  speaking,  the  old  fellow  closed  the  window. 

And  within  the  moment  little  Melicent  came  to 
molest  him,  and  she  was  unusually  dirty  and  di- 
sheveled, for  she  had  been  rolling  on  the  terrace 
pavement,  and  had  broken  half  the  fastenings  from 
her  clothing:  and  Dom  Manuel  wiped  her  nose 
rather  forlornly.  Of  a  sudden  he  laughed  and 
kissed  her.  And  Count  Manuel  said  he  must  send 
for  masons  to  wall  up  the  third  window  of  Ageus, 
so  that  it  might  not  ever  be  opened  any  more  in 
Count  Manuel^  day  for  him  to  breathe  through  it 
the  dim  sweet-scented  air  of  spring. 


The  Passing  of  Manuel 


THEN  as  Dom  Manuel  turned  from  the  win- 
dow of  Ageus,  it  seemed  that  young  Hor- 
vendile  had  opened  the  door  yonder,  and 
after  an  instant's  pensive  staring  at  Dom  Manuel, 
had  gone  away.  This  happened,  if  it  happened  at 
all,  so  furtively  and  quickly  that  Count  Manuel 
could  not  be  sure  of  it:  but  he  could  entertain  no 
doubt  as  to  the  other  person  who  was  confronting 
him.  There  was  not  any  telling  how  this  lean 
stranger  had  come  into  the  private  apartments  of 
the  Count  of  Poictesme,  nor  was  there  any  need  for 
Manuel  to  wonder  over  the  management  of  this  in- 
trusion, for  the  new  arrival  was  not,  after  all,  an 
entire  stranger  to  Dom  Manuel. 

So  Manuel  said  nothing,  as  he  stood  there  strok- 
ing the  round  straw-colored  head  of  little  Melicent. 
The  stranger  waited,  equally  silent.  There  was  no 
noise  at  all  in  the  room  until  afar  off  a  dog  began 
to  howl. 

"Yes,  certainly,"  Dom  Manuel  said,  "I  might 
have  known  that  my  life  was  bound  up  with  the  life 
of  Suskind,  since  my  desire  of  her  is  the  one  desire 

340 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  341 

which  I  have  put  aside  unsatisfied.  O  rider  of  the 
white  horse,  you  are  very  welcome." 

The  other  replied :  "Why  should  you  think  that 
I  know  anything  about  this  Suskind  or  that  we  of 
the  Leshy  keep  any  account  of  your  doings?  No 
matter  what  you  may  elect  to  think,  however,  it 
was  decreed  that  the  first  person  I  found  here  should 
ride  hence  on  my  black  horse.  But  you  and  the 
child  stand  abreast.  So  you  must  choose  again, 
Dom  Manuel,  whether  it  be  you  or  another  who 
rides  on  my  black  horse." 

Then  Manuel  bent  down,  and  he  kissed  little  Meli- 
cent.  "Go  to  your  mother,  dear,  and  tell  her — " 
He  paused  here,  and  his  lips  worked. 

Says  Melicent,  "But  what  am  I  to  tell  her, 
Father?" 

"Oh,  a  very  queer  thing,  my  darling.  You  are  to 
tell  Mother  that  Father  has  always  loved  her  over 
and  above  all  else,  and  that  she  is  always  to  remem- 
ber that,  and — why,  that  in  consequence  she  is  to 
give  you  some  ginger  cakes,"  says  Manuel,  smiling. 

So  the  child  ran  happily  away,  without  once  look- 
ing back,  and  Manuel  closed  the  door  behind  her,  so 
that  he  was  now  quite  alone  with  his  lean  visitor. 

"Come,"  says  the  stranger,  "so  you  have  plucked 
up  some  heart  after  all!  Yet  it  is  of  no  avail  to 
posture  with  me,  who  know  you  to  be  spurred  to 
this  by  vanity  rather  than  by  devotion.  Oh,  very 


342  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

probably  you  are  as  fond  of  the  child  as  is  requisite, 
and  of  your  other  children  too,  but  you  must  admit 
that  after  you  have  played  with  any  one  of  them 
for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  you  become  most  heartily 
tired  of  the  small  squirming  pest." 

Manuel  intently  regarded  him,  and  squinting 
Manuel  smiled  sleepily.  "No,  I  love  all  my  children 
with  the  customary  paternal  infatuation." 

"Also  you  must  have  your  gesture  by  sending  at 
the  last  a  lying  message  to  your  wife,  to  comfort 
the  poor  soul  against  to-morrow  and  the  day  after. 
You  are — magnanimously,  you  like  to  think — ac- 
cording her  this  parting  falsehood,  half  in  con- 
temptuous kindness  and  half  in  relief,  because  at 
last  you  are  now  getting  rid  of  a  complacent  and 
muddle-headed  fool  of  whom,  also,  you  are  most 
heartily  tired." 

"No,  no,"  says  Manuel,  still  smiling,  "to  my  par- 
tial eyes  dear  Niafer  remains  the  most  clever  and 
beautiful  of  women,  and  my  delight  in  her  has  not 
ever  wavered.  But  wherever  do  you  get  these 
curious  notions  ?" 

"Ah,  I  have  been  with  so  many  husbands  at  the 
last,  Count  Manuel." 

And  Manuel  shrugged.  "What  fearful  indiscre- 
tions you  suggest!  No,  friend,  that  sort  of  thing 
has  an  ill  sound,  and  they  should  have  remembered 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  343 

that  even  at  the  last  there  is  the  bond  of  silence." 
"Come,  come,  Count  Manuel,  you  are  a  queer 
cool  fellow,  and  you  have  worn  these  masks  and  at- 
titudes with  tolerable  success,  as  your  world  goes. 
But  you  are  now  bound  for  a  diversely  ordered 
world,  wherein  your  handsome  wrappings  are  not  to 
the  purpose." 

"Well,  I  do  not  know  how  that  may  be,"  replies 
Count  Manuel,  "but  at  all  events  there  is  a  decency 
in  these  things  and  an  indecency,  and  I  shall  never 
of  my  own  free  will  expose  the  naked  soul  of  Man- 
uel to  anybody.  No,  it  would  be  no  pleasant  spec- 
tacle, I  think :  certainly,  I  have  never  looked  at  it, 
nor  do  I  mean  to.  Perhaps,  as  you  assert,  some 
power  which  is  stronger  than  I  may  some  day  tear 
all  masks  aside :  but  this  will  not  be  my  fault,  and 
I  shall  even  then  reserve  the  right  to  consider  that 
stripping  in  shocking  taste.  Meanwhile  I  shall  ad- 
here to  my  own  sense  of  decorum,  and  not  to  that 
of  anybody  else,  not  even  to  that  of  one" — Count 
Manuel  bowed — "who  is  in  a  manner  of  speaking 
my  guest." 

"Oh,  as  always,  you  posture  very  tolerably,  and 
men  in  general  will  acclaim  you  as  successful  in  your 
life.  But  do  you  look  back!  For  the  hour  has 
come,  Count  Manuel,  for  you  to  confess,  as  all  per- 
sons confess  at  my  arrival,  that  you  have  faltered 


344  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

between  one  desire  and  another,  not  ever  knowing 
truly  what  you  desired,  and  not  ever  being  content 
with  any  desire  when  it  was  accomplished." 

"Softly,  friend!  for  I  am  forced  to  gather  from 
your  wild  way  of  talking  that  you  of  the  Leshy  in- 
deed do  not  keep  any  record  of  our  human  doings." 

The  stranger  raised  what  he  had  of  eyebrows. 
"But  how  can  we,"  he  inquired,  "when  we  have  so 
many  matters  of  real  importance  to  look  after?" 

Candid  blunt  Dom  Manuel  answered  without  any 
anger,  speaking  even  jovially,  but  in  all  maintaining 
the  dignity  of  a  high  prince  assured  of  his  own 
worth. 

"That  excuses,  then,  your  nonsensical  remarks. 
I  must  make  bold  to  inform  you  that  everybody  tells 
me  I  have  very  positive  achievements  to  look  back 
upon.  I  do  not  care  to  boast,  you  understand,  and 
to  be  forced  into  self-praise  is  abhorrent  to  me. 
Yet  truthfulness  is  all  important  at  this  solemn 
hour,  and  any  one  hereabouts  can  tell  you  it  was 
I  who  climbed  gray  Vraidex,  and  dealt  so  hardily 
with  the  serpents  and  other  horrific  protectors  of 
Miramon  Lluagor  that  I  destroyed  most  of  them 
and  put  the  others  to  flight.  Thereafter  men  nar- 
rate how  I  made  my  own  terms  with  the  terrified 
wizard,  according  him  his  life  upon  condition  that 
he  serve  under  me  in  the  campaign  I  was  then  plan- 
ning to  redeem  Poictesme  from  the  oppression  of 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  345 

the  Northmen:  yes,  and  how  I  managed  to  accom- 
plish all  these  things,  mark  you,  even  while  I  was 
hampered  by  having  to  look  out  for  and  protect  a 


woman." 


"Yes,"  said  the  lean  stranger,  "I  know  you  some- 
how got  the  better  of  that  romantic  visionary  brother 
of  mine,  and  I  admit  this  was  rather  remarkable. 
But  what  does  it  matter  now?" 

"Then  they  will  tell  you  it  was  I  that  wisely 
reasoned  with  King  Helmas  until  I  turned  him  from 
folly,  and  I  that  with  holy  arguments  converted 
King  Ferdinand  from  his  wickedness.  I  restored 
the  magic  to  the  robe  of  the  Apsarasas  when  but  for 
me  its  magic  would  have  been  lost  irrevocably.  I 
conquered  Freydis,  that  woman  of  strange  deeds, 
and  single-handed  I  fought  against  her  spoorns  and 
calcars  and  other  terrors  of  antiquity,  slaying,  to  be 
accurate,  seven  hundred  and  eighty-two  of  them. 
I  also  conquered  the  Misery  of  earth,  whom  some 
called  Beda,  and  others  Kruchina,  and  yet  others 
Mimir,  after  a  very  notable  battle  which  we  fought 
with  enchanted  swords  for  a  whole  month  without 
ever  pausing  for  rest.  I  went  intrepidly  into  the 
paradise  of  the  heathen,  and  routed  all  its  terrific 
warders,  and  so  fetched  hence  the  woman  whom  I 
desired.  Thus,  friend,  did  I  repurchase  that  heroic 
and  unchanging  love  which  exists  between  my  wife 
and  me." 


346  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"Yes,"  said  the  stranger,  "why,  that  too  is  very 
remarkable.  But  what  does  it  matter  now?" 

" — For  it  is  of  common  report  among  men  that 
nothing  has  ever  been  able  to  withstand  Dom  Man- 
uel: so  that  when  the  lewd  and  evil  god  whom 
nowadays  so  many  adore  as  Sesphra  of  the  Dreams, 
was  for  establishing  his  power  by  making  an  alliance 
with  me,  I  drove  him  howling  and  terrified  into  the 
heart  of  a  great  fire.  I  do  not  boast,  but  when  the 
very  gods  run  away  from  a  champion  there  is  some 
adequate  reason :  and  of  this  exploit,  and  of  all  these 
exploits,  and  of  many  other  exploits,  equally  in- 
credible and  equally  well  vouched  for,  all  persons 
hereabouts  will  tell  you.  As  to  the  prodigies  of 
valor  which  I  performed  in  redeeming  Poictesme 
from  the  oppression  of  the  Northmen,  you  will  find 
documentary  evidence  in  those  three  epic  poems,  just 
to  your  left  there,  which  commemorate  my  feats  in 
this  campaign — " 

"Nobody  disputes  this  campaign  also  may  have 
been  remarkable,  and  certainly  I  do  not  dispute  it: 
for  I  cannot  see  that  these  doings  matter  a  button's 
worth  in  my  business  with  you,  and,  besides,  I  never 
argue." 

"And  no  more  do  I !  because  I  abhor  vainglory, 
and  I  know  these  affairs  are  now  a  part  of  estab- 
lished history.  No,  friend,  you  cannot  destroy  my 
credit  in  this  world,  whereas  in  the  world  for  which 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  347 

I  am  bound,  you  tell  me,  they  make  no  account  of 
our  doings.  So  whether  or  not  I  did  these  things 
I  shall  retain,  in  this  world  and  the  next,  the  credit 
of  them  without  resorting  to  distasteful  boasting: 
and  that,  as  I  was  going  on  to  explain,  is  precisely 
why  I  do  not  find  it  necessary  to  tell  you  about  these 
matters,  or  even  to  allude  to  them." 

"Oh,  doubtless,  it  is  something  to  have  excelled 
all  your  fellows  in  so  many  ways,"  the  stranger  con- 
ceded, with  a  sort  of  grudging  respect:  "but,  I  re- 
peat, what  does  it  matter  now?" 

"And,  if  you  will  pardon  my  habitual  frankness, 
friend,  that  query  with  so  constant  repetition  be- 
comes a  trifle  monotonous.  No,  it  does  not  dis- 
hearten me,  I  am  past  that.  No,  I  once  opened  a 
window,  the  more  clearly  to  appraise  the  most  dear 
rewards  of  my  endeavors —  That  moment  was  my 
life,  that  single  quiet  moment  summed  up  all  my 
living,  and" — here  Manuel  smiled  gravely — "still 
without  boasting,  friend,  I  must  tell  you  that  in  this 
moment  all  doubt  as  to  my  attested  worth  went  out 
of  me,  who  had  redeemed  a  kingdom,  and  begotten 
a  king,  and  created  a  god.  So  you  waste  time,  my 
friend,  in  trying  to  convince  me  of  all  human  life's 
failure  and  unimportance,  for  I  am  not  in  sympathy 
with  this  modern  morbid  pessimistic  way  of  talking. 
It  has  a  very  ill  sound,  and  nothing  whatever  is  to 
be  gained  by  it." 


348  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

The  other  answered  shrewdly :  "Yes,  you  speak 
well,  and  you  posture  handsomely,  in  every  respect 
save  one.  For  you  call  me  'friend/  Hah,  Manuel, 
from  behind  the  squinting  mask  a  sick  and  satiated 
and  disappointed  being  spoke  there,  however  reso- 
lutely you  keep  up  appearances." 

"There  spoke  mere  courtesy,  Grandfather  Death," 
says  Manuel,  now  openly  laughing,  "and  for 
the  rest,  if  you  again  will  pardon  frankness,  it 
is  less  with  the  contents  of  my  heart  than  with 
its  continued  motion  that  you  have  any  proper  con- 
cern." 

"Truly  it  is  no  affair  of  mine,  Count  Manuel,  nor 
do  any  of  your  doings  matter  to  me.  Therefore  let 
us  be  going  now,  unless — O  most  unusual  man,  who 
at  the  last  assert  your  life  to  have  been  a  successful 
and  important  business, — unless  you  now  desire 
some  time  wherein  to  bid  farewell  to  your  loved 
wife  and  worshipped  children  and  to  all  your  other 
fine  works." 

Dom  Manuel  shrugged  broad  shoulders.  "And 
to  what  end!  No,  I  am  Manuel.  I  have  lived  in 
the  loneliness  which  is  common  to  all  men,  but  the 
difference  is  that  I  have  known  it.  Now  it  is  neces- 
sary for  me,  as  it  is  necessary  for  all  men,  to  die  in 
this  same  loneliness,  and  I  know  that  there  is  no 
help  for  it." 

"Once,  Manuel,  you  feared  to  travel  with  me, 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  349 

and  you  bid  Niaf  er  mount  in  your  stead  on  my  black 
horse,  saying,  'Better  she  than  I.'  " 

"Yes,  yes,  what  curious  things  we  do  when  we  are 
boys !  Well,  I  am  wiser  now,  for  since  then  I  have 
achieved  all  that  I  desired,  save  only  to  see  the  ends 
of  this  world  and  to  judge  them,  and  I  would  have 
achieved  that  too,  perhaps,  if  only  I  had  desired  it 
a  little  more  heartily.  Yes,  yes,  I  tell  you  frankly, 
I  have  grown  so  used  to  getting  my  desire  that  I  be- 
lieve, even  now,  if  I  desired  you  to  go  hence  alone 
you  also  would  obey  me." 

Grandfather  Death  smiled  thinly.  "I  reserve  my 
own  opinion.  But  take  it  what  you  say  is  true,  and 
do  you  desire  that  ?" 

"No,"  says  Manuel,  very  quietly.  "Oh,  God, 
no!" 

And  thereupon  Dom  Manuel  passed  to  the  west- 
ern window,  and  he  stood  there,  looking  out  over 
broad  rolling  uplands.  He  viewed  a  noble  country, 
good  to  live  in,  rich  with  grain  and  metal,  em- 
bowered with  tall  forests,  and  watered  by  pleasant 
streams.  Walled  cities  it  had,  and  castles  crowned 
its  eminences.  Very  far  beneath  Dom  Manuel  the 
leaded  roofs  of  the  fortresses  glittered  in  the  sun- 
set, for  Storisende  guards  the  loftiest  part  of  all 
Poictesme. 

"It  is  strange,"  says  Dom  Manuel,  "to  think  that 
everything  I  am  seeing  was  mine  a  moment  since, 


350  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

and  it  is  queer  too  to  think  of  what  a  famous  fel- 
low was  this  Manuel  the  Redeemer,  and  of  the  fine 
things  he  did,  and  it  is  appalling  to  wonder  if  all 
the  other  applauded  heroes  of  mankind  are  like  him. 
Oh,  certainly,  Count  Manuel's  achievements  were 
notable  and  such  as  were  not  known  anywhere  be- 
fore, and  men  will  talk  of  them  for  a  long  while. 
Yet,  looking  back, — now  that  this  famed  Count  of 
Poictesme  means  less  to  me, — why,  I  seem  to  see 
only  the  strivings  of  an  ape  reft  of  his  tail,  and 
grown  rusty  at  climbing,  who  has  reeled  blunder- 
ingly from  mystery  to  mystery,  with  pathetic  make- 
shifts, not  understanding  anything,  greedy  in  all  de- 
sires, and  always  honeycombed  with  poltroonery. 
So  in  a  secret  place  his  youth  was  put  away  in  ex- 
change for  a  prize  that  was  hardly  worth  the  hav- 
ing; and  the  fine  geas  which  his  mother  laid  upon 
him  was  exchanged  for  the  common  geas  of  what 
seems  expected." 

"Such  notions,"  replied  Grandfather  Death,  "are 
entertained  by  many  of  you  humans  in  the  light- 
headed time  of  youth.  Then  common-sense  arises 
like  a  light  formless  cloud  about  your  goings,  and 
you  half  forget  these  notions.  Then  I  bring  dark- 


ness." 


"In  that  quiet  dark,  my  friend,  it  may  be  I  shall 
again  become  the  Manuel  whom  I  remember,  and 
I  may  get  back  again  my  own  undemonstrable  ideas, 


PASSING  OF  MANUEL  351 

in  place  of  the  ideas  of  other  persons,  to  entertain 
me  in  that  darkness.  So  let  us  be  going  thither." 

"Very  willingly,"  said  Grandfather  Death ;  and  he 
started  toward  the  door. 

"Now,  pardon  me,"  says  Manuel,  "but  in  Poic- 
tesme  the  Count  of  Poictesme  goes  first  in  any 
company.  It  may  seem  to  you  an  affair  of  no  im- 
portance, but  nowadays  I  concede  the  strength  as 
well  as  the  foolishness  of  my  accustomed  habits, 
and  all  my  life  long  I  have  gone  first.  So  do  you 
ride  a  little  way  behind  me,  friend,  and  carry  this 
shroud  and  napkin,  till  I  have  need  of  them." 

Then  the  Count  armed  and  departed  from  Storis- 
ende,  riding  on  the  black  horse,  in  gold  armor, 
and  carrying  before  him  his  shield  whereon  was 
blazoned  the  rampant  and  bridled  stallion  of  Poic- 
tesme and  the  motto  Mundus  vult  decipi.  Behind 
him  was  Grandfather  Death  on  the  white  horse, 
carrying  the  Count's  grave-clothes  in  a  neat  bundle. 
They  rode  toward  the  sunset,  and  against  the  yellow 
sunset  each  figure  showed  jet  black. 

And  thereafter  Count  Manuel  was  seen  no  more 
in  Poictesme,  nor  did  anyone  ever  know  certainly 
whither  he  journeyed.  There  was  a  lad  called 
Jurgen,  the  son  of  Coth,  who  came  to  Storisende  in 
a  frenzy  of  terror,  very  early  the  next  morning, 
with  a  horrific  tale  of  incredible  events  witnessed 
upon  Morven :  but  the  child's  tale  was  not  heeded, 


352  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

because  everybody  knew  that  Count  Manuel  was  un- 
conquerable, and — having  everything  which  men  de- 
sire,— would  never  be  leaving  all  these  amenities  of 
his  own  will,  and  certainly  would  never  be  taking 
part  in  any  such  dubious  doings.  Therefore  little 
Jurgen  was  spanked,  alike  for  staying  out  all  night 
and  for  his  wild  lying:  and  they  of  Poictesme 
awaited  the  return  of  their  great  Dom  Manuel;  and 
not  for  a  long  while  did  they  suspect  that  Manuel 
had  departed  homeward,  after  having  succeeded  in 
everything. 


40. 

Colophon:  Da  Capo 


NOW  some  of  Poictesme  (but  not  all  they  of 
Poictesme,  because  the  vulgar  deny  this  por- 
tion of  the  tale)  narrate  that  after  that  ap- 
palling  eucharist   which   young  Jurgen   witnessed 
upon  Morven,  the  Redeemer  of  Poictesme  rode  on  a 
far  and  troubling  journey  with  Grandfather  Death, 
until  the  two  had  passed  the  sunset,  and  had  come 
to  the  dark  stream  of  Lethe. 

"Now  we  must  ford  these  shadowy  waters,"  said 
Grandfather  Death,  "in  part  because  your  destiny 
is  on  the  other  side,  and  in  part  because  by  the  con- 
tact of  these  waters  all  your  memories  will  be 
washed  away  from  you.  And  that  is  requisite  to 
your  destiny." 

"But  what  is  my  destiny?" 

"It  is  that  of  all  living  creatures,  Count  Manuel. 
If  you  have  been  yourself  you  cannot  reasonably  be 
punished,  but  if  you  have  been  somebody  else  you 
will  find  that  this  is  not  permitted." 

"That  is  a  dark  saying,  only  too  well  suited  to 
this  doubtful  place,  and  I  do  not  understand  you." 

353 


354  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

"No/'  replied  Grandfather  Death,  "but  that  does 
not  matter." 

Then  the  black  horse  and  the  white  horse  entered 
the  water:  and  they  passed  over,  and  the  swine  of 
Eubouleus  were  waiting  for  them,  but  these  were 
not  yet  untethered. 

So  in  the  moment  which  remained  Dom  Manuel 
looked  backward  and  downward,  and  he  saw  that 
Grandfather  Death  had  spoken  truly.  For  all  the 
memories  of  Manuel's  life  had  been  washed  away 
from  him,  so  that  these  memories  were  left  adrift 
and  submerged  in  the  shadowy  waters  of  Lethe. 
Drowned  there  was  the  wise  countenance  of  Hel- 
mas,  and  the  face  of  St.  Ferdinand  with  a  tarnished 
halo  about  it,  and  the  puzzled  features  of  Horven- 
dile;  and  glowing  birds  and  glistening  images  and 
the  shimmering  designs  of  Miramon  thronged  there 
confusedly,  and  among  them  went  with  moving 
jaws  a  head  of  sleek  white  clay.  The  golden  love- 
liness of  Alianora,  and  the  dark  splendor  of  Frey- 
dis  and,  derisively,  the  immortal  young  smile  of 
Sesphra,  showed  each  for  a  moment,  and  was  gone. 
Then  Niafer's  eyes  displayed  their  mildly  wonder- 
ing disapproval  for  the  last  time,  and  the  small  faces 
of  children  that  in  the  end  were  hers  and  not  Man- 
uel's passed  with  her :  and  the  shine  of  armor,  and  a 
tossing  heave  of  jaunty  banners,  and  gleaming  castle 
turrets,  and  all  the  brilliancies  and  colors  that  Man- 


COLOPHON:  DA  CAPO  355 

uel  had  known  and  loved  anywhere,  save  only  the 
clear  red  and  white  of  Suskind's  face,  seemed  to  be 
passing  incoherently  through  the  still  waters,  like 
bright  broken  wreckage  which  an  undercurrent  was 
sweeping  away. 

And  Manuel  sighed,  almost  as  if  in  relief.  "So 
this/'  he  said,  "this  is  the  preposterous  end." 

"Yes,  yes,"  replied  Grandfather  Death,  as  slowly 
he  untethered  one  by  one  the  swine  of  Eubouleus. 
"Yes,  it  is  indeed  the  end,  since  all  your  life  is  pass- 
ing away  there,  to  be  beheld  by  your  old  eyes  alone, 
for  the  last  time.  Thus  I  see  nothing  there  but 
ordinary  water,  and  I  wonder  what  it  is  you  find  in 
that  dark  pool  to  keep  you  staring  so." 

"I  do  not  very  certainly  know,"  said  Manuel, 
"but,  a  little  more  and  more  mistily  now,  I  seem  to 
see  drowned  there  all  the  loves  and  the  desires  and 
the  adventures  I  had  when  I  wore  another  body  than 
this  dilapidated  gray  body  I  now  wear.  And  yet  it 
is  a  deceiving  water,  for  there  where  it  should  re- 
flect my  face  it  shows  the  face  of  a  young  boy,  and 
not  the  face  of  the  old  fellow  that  is  I." 

"But  what  is  that  thing?"  asked  the  other. 

And  Manuel  raised  from  looking  at  the  water  just 
the  handsome  and  florid  young  face  which  Manuel 
had  seen  reflected  in  the  water.  As  his  memories 
vanished,  the  tall  boy  incuriously  wondered  who 
might  be  the  snub-nosed  stranger  that  was  waiting 


356  FIGURES  OF  EARTH 

there  with  the  miller's  pigs,  and  was  pointing,  as  if 
in  mild  surprise,  toward  the  two  stones  overgrown 
with  moss  and  supporting  a  cross  of  old  worm-eaten 
wood.  For  the  stranger  pointed  at  the  unfinished, 
unsatisfying  image  which  stood  beside  the  pool  of 
Haranton,  wherein,  they  say,  strange  dreams  en- 
gender. .  .  . 

"What  is  that  thing?"  the  stranger  repeated. 

"It  is  the  figure  of  a  man,"  said  Manuel,  "which 
I  have  modeled  and  remodeled,  and  cannot  get  ex- 
actly to  my  liking.  So  it  is  necessary  that  I  keep 
laboring  at  it,  until  the  figure  is  to  my  thinking 
and  my  desire." 

Thus  it  was  in  the  old  days. 


EXPLICIT 


* 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


OCT  16  1974 
OCT16RB0 


50m-12,'70(Pl251s8)2373-3A,l 


